China-based Suning Holdings is trialing unmanned last-mile delivery of online purchased merchandise items to buyers in place of conventional delivery by couriers to avoid possible coronavirus infections via person-to-person contact, according to China-based media reports.The entire delivery process except the last-mile delivery is already highly automated, including automated sorting and loading of merchandise items and automatically assigned logistics cars for transportation to local distribution centers.Suning began experimenting last-mile delivery using autonomous vehicles in 2018, and is now trialing autonomous vehicles equipped with a 5G-based tracking system for delivery to buyers within 3km, the reports said.But Suning Technology, Suning Holdings' subsidiary which develops automated logistics technology, indicated that it is technologically difficult to realize completely unmanned last-mile delivery for the time being, the reports said.Suning's subsidiary e-commerce operator Suning.com has seen online sales value hike 419% since the outbreak, the reports said.

With the coronavirus starting to widely spread in many countries outside of China, the semiconductor industry has grown concerned that its performance may be influenced; however, in China, the upstream supply chain there has gradually picked up their paces in production resumption with IC design houses expect their shipments to rise in March. Meanwhile, VisEra, a subsidiary of TSMC is setting up a new color filter plant in Taiwan and is striving for orders from Sony.Spread of coronavirus beyond China to impact 2020 semiconductor market: The spread of coronavirus beyond China is now a challenge that the global semiconductor market is facing this year.Taiwan IC designers eyeing shipments upturn in March: With labor return rates recovering in China, Taiwan-based IC design houses are expected to see shipments start picking up in March as the impact pressure of the coronavirus outbreak on fulfillment of orders was already largely eased in February, according to industry sources.VisEra to build new color filter plant to serve Sony: Color filter (CF) maker VisEra Technologies, a subsidiary of TSMC, will establish a new plant in Longtan, northern Taiwan and is eyeing new orders from Sony, according to industry sources.

The coronavirus outbreak has derailed production and consumer demand in China - the biggest manufacturing base for mobile devices and one of the biggest markets for them.Operation at many major mobile device ODMs' China plants is still way below normal levels since work resumed around mid February after an extended Lunar New Year break in the wake of the outbreak. Further upstream at their materals and components suppliers, work resumption has been even much slower.Digitimes Research expects mobile devices shipments to see major declines in first-quarter 2020, and the full-year shipmet volumes will also be much lower than previously expected. And how bad the falls will be depends on the workers' return rates and the supply of materials and components.Global notebook unit shipments for the first quarter of 2020 are estimated to plunge 29-36% than the 17% projected earlier, as severe labor and components shortages and stagnant logistics arising from the coronavirus outbreak are stalling the supply chain in China, which commands over 90% of global notebook production, according to Digitimes Research's freshly published special report about the coronavirus outbreak's impacts on the productions and markets of notebooks, smartphones and tablets. Global smartphone shipments are expected to slip below 1.3 billion units in 2020, including less than 200 million units of 5G models, taking into account the impacts of the outbreak on China and around the world in terms of economic growth.Among IT product supply chains, the tablet sector has experienced less impact from the epidemic as most tablet factories had remained in production during the Lunar New Year holiday, while those located in regions less affected by the virus have begun resuming production since February 10. In general, the tablet sector is witnessing better capacity recovery than the notebook and smartphone sectors.

The coronavirus outbreak is expected to drive many manufacturers, especially those in the electronics sector, to accelerate production relocation from China and rearrange their capacity globalization deployments, but China will remain a global manufacturing powerhouse with unrivalled advantages, including huge domestic demand.In the wake of the US-China trade rows and the epidemic, many Taiwanese firms with manufacturing operations in China have become determined that they should move some production back home or Southeast Asia to diversify risks.But still many other Taiwanese makers are increasing investments in China, especially building new plants in central and western China, seeking to capitalize on policy incentives and abundant talent there to better serve Chinese clients.Many researchers now expect China's GDP growth to reach only 5.5% in 2020 due to impacts of the virus epidemic, but its status as the world's second largest economy and most populous country with enormous domestic demand will still attract large sums of investments.Production localization - a trend ganing momentum among vendors - will still motivate firms to incease their production capacity in China.5G business opportunitiesThe 5G commercialization is set to usher in immense business opportunities for related segments including handsets, base stations, cloud servers and new energy vehicles in the China market, and even China's traditional auto industry is believed to bring new crucial opportunities for components makers.For instance, high-tier connectors will be increasingly demanded to meet high-frequency, high-speed and high-power transmission requirements for 5G and automotive applications, and Taiwanese makers will be in pole position to benefit as their Chinese peers are only technically capable of manufacturing lower-end connectors for general PC, notebook or handset applications.Meanwhile, China's policy support to bolster upgrades and transformations of its local industries is also creating significant business opportunities for Taiwan's makers of automated and smart manufacturing equipment.Besides huge domestic market demand, a series of tax, land and manpower supply incentives offered by the governments of central and western Chinese cities are also attracting supply chain players, especially those gradually losing competitiveness in their operations in coastal cities, to extend their investment reach to the inner land areas. Moreover, investors there can also more easily land orders from Chinese brand vendors.With their plants increasingly incorporating automated and smart production systems, manufacturing enterprises now set eyes on the availability of sufficient higher-end technical talent produced locally.Supporting shipments to Southeast AsiaFurthermore, while many manufacturers have relocated their production in China to Southeast Asia to support shipments to the US amid the US-China trade tensions, some others are also mulling increasing production capacity in China to support shipments to Southeast Asia and even other Asia Pacific areas.The ever-expanding supply chains in Southeast Asia will significantly stimulate economic growth and consumer demand in the regional markets, but the overall supply capacity there alone will be unable to support shipments to the US and the region simultaneously.Taiwanese investors in China can also choose to set up new production capacity in Taiwan, but such a choice has its limitation. As Taiwan is now not a member of either CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), Taiwan-sourced shipments to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and other Asia Pacific areas cannot enjoy the same preferential tariffs applicable to shipments originated from China, the sources indicated.Accordingly, as China boasts distinct investment advantages not paralleled by any other parts of the world, it will remain a top destination for investments.

The flat panel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, as China-based makers have major production lines in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic. And as global panel production is set to be cut by 20% in February, panel prices are also rising. The epidemic has disrupted productions across almost all ICT sectors, leaving many firms without componets and material supplies. Taiwan-based passive components maker Yageo has disclosed that its MLCC and chip resistor inventory has reached 10-year low levels, and it is mulling raising prices. But firms have not been deterred by the virus from advancing their production technologies. Memory makers Nanya and CXMT are gearing up for 10nm-class chip production.Virus cutting panel production by 20% in February: The impacts of the coronavirus outbreak are expected to exact a toll of 20% in global flat panel output in February, with prospects to see the ratio alleviate to 5-10% in March when more workers return to work in China, according to industry sources.Yageo sees MLCC, chip resistor inventory hit 10-year low: Passive components maker Yageo has seen its inventory for MLCCs and chip resistors hit the lowest levels in nearly 10 years and will properly raise prices to reflect increased costs, according to company chairman Pierre Chen.Nanya, CXMT gearing up for 10nm-class chip production: Nanya Technology and Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) are both gearing up to enter volume production of their 10nm-class DRAM chips in the second half of 2020.

The global server shipments so far have only been mildly affected by labor shortages in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, but if the epidemic cannot be contained by the end of March, the server supply chain is expected to be significantly undermined by components shortages, according to Digitimes Research.The server industry has so far seen manageable impacts from China's coronavirus outbreak, as most vendors had prepared extra inventory prior to the Lunar New Year holidays, during which they had kept parts of their workforces at factories to continue production, Digitimes Research's data shows.The inventory build-up for and production during the Lunar New Year holiday were meant to satisfy rising orders from North America's large datacenter players, which has sheltered server ODMs from severe impacts in terms of labor and components shortages that other IT sectors have been suffering.Most server ODMs and component makers were able to ramp up their utilization rates at factories in China to 50-70% shortly after the end of the holiday period - extended due to the outbreak. With still sufficient components supply, makers of CCL are currently seeing slightly better production recovery rates than PCB makers.However, chemical materials and passive components may face tight supply as most of them are provided by small China-based suppliers who are currently having problems resuming production because of a lack of resources to enable their anti-virus measures, and they have yet to receive approval for returning to work local governments.Although the supply chain is only expected to see limited impact in the short term, shortages of labors and components will be a problem for the server industry if the outbreak cannot be effectively contained by the end of March. If that happens, server makers' shipments may slip by over 10% sequentially in the first quarter of 2020.

Spatial Topology Technology has combined its indoor positioning system with Bluetooth trackers developed by Tracmo and smart thermometer patches produced by iWEECARE to form a solution that monitors real-time body temperatures of people who are suspected of COVUD-19 infection and isolated for quarantine at their homes or government-designated places, according to Spatial Topology.Spatial said the solution is useful in situations, such as the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, where the whereabouts and health of people under quarantines have to be closely monitored.Smart thermometer patches keep measuring their body temperatures and automatically report results to quarantine management centers, Spatial said. If the smart patches are out of detection reach of indoor positioning system in combination with Bluetooth trackers, this means that the person being monitored have breached the isolation, and a warning will be automatically sent to quarantine management centers.The solution can minimize quarantine or medical staff members' immediate contacts with potential patients and reduce risks of being infected, Spatial noted.

Taiwan's PC monitor shipments are expected to drop 15% sequentially in the first quarter of 2020, as some clients had demanded advanced shipments a quarter earlier and the effects of the coronavirus outbreak will continue to impact production, Digitimes Research says.Prior to the outbreak, Digitimes Research had forecast that Taiwan's PC monitor shipments would reach 22.04 million units in the first quarter of 2020, down 5% from a quarter earlier.Shipments of Taiwan's PC monitors in the fourth quarter of 2019 declined by a sequential rate that was lower than expected, and the amount represented an increase of 5.6% from a year earlier.While the production of above 27-inch models began gaining momentum in the fourth quarter of 2019, shipments of 22- to 26-inch monitors remained the mainstream segment, with 23.x-inch models being the most popular.With respect to individual companies, shipments from Wistron posted the highest growth both sequentially and annually in the fourth quarter thanks to significant follow-up orders from HP and lifted its vendor ranking one notch to fifth place, replacing Samsung Electronics.

Digitimes Research has revised downward its 5G smartphone shipment forecast for the second quarter and also all of 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus impact.With the outbreak disrupting production and dampening consumer confidence, 5G handset shipments in China in the second quarter of 2020 are expected to slip 26.6% from the pre-epidemice forecast of 30 million units to 22 million units.The proportion of 5G smartphone APs shipped to China-based smartphone brands has also been reduced to only 9.5% for the first half of 2020 with 4G chips to account for 85% of the shipments.Digitimes Research believes if China's coronavirus outbreak can be gradually contained starting the second quarter of 2020, China will still be the biggest market for 5G handset shipments in 2020.With Chinese smartphone brands eagerly looking to raise 5G handsets' penetration rate in China with inexpensive 5G devices and Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung pushing for the mass production of their mid-range 5G application processors, China-based smartphone brands are expected to be able to release 5G smartphones that are priced between US$280-360 starting the second quarter of 2020.Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung have begun mass production of mid-range to high-end 5G SoCs since the fourth quarter of 2019. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765/765G chips have the most comprehensive support on 5G spectrums, while MediaTek's Dimensity 1000L is primarily supporting Sub-6GHz as the chip is targeting mainly the China market. Samsung's Exynos 980 is highly customized for Vivo's X30 smartphone.At the moment, mid-range to high-end 5G APs feature an ASP six folds that of 4G ones, making it difficult for 5G smartphone prices to come down. With the coronavirus outbreak undermining China's consumer demand, mid-range 5G APs with friendlier pricing are expected to become a key driver in boosting 5G smartphone shipments in 2020.Digitimes Research believes the AP suppliers will begin shipping their mid-range 5G chips in the second quarter of 2020 and will not be deterred by the epidemic. Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppos and Vivo will start releasing their 5G smartphones priced between US$280-360 in the second quarter of 2020, driving up China's 5G smartphone shipments.Digitimes Research also expects Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) tight capacity in the first half of 2020 will be eased because of 5G handsets' reduced shipments.

While the cancellation of MWC 2020 and the locked-down management in many cities in China due to the coronavirus outbreak have raised concerns about the development of 5G, the epidemic may end up with limited impacts on the operations of telecom firms as well as the deployments of 5G infrastructure in 2020 if it can be contained by mid-year, according to Digitimes Research.It is obvious that the deployments of 5G networks in China will be affected as many Chinese cities currently being locked down are those that have been given priority for installation of 5G base stations, Digitimes Research has found.However, judging from the experience that gained from the SARS outbreak in 2003, quarantine and other isolation measures will eventually deepen people's reliance on communication services in terms of increased mobile subscribers, mobile revenues and voice traffic.In addition, the deployments of 5G networks are long-term infrastructure projects that may be only temporarily interrupted by short-term incidents, and China's telecom operators are poised to expand their capex significantly to accelerate their 5G deployments in the second half of 2020 provided the epidemic is under control by June, says Digitimes Research.Nevertheless, if the epidemic continues into the second half of the year, the development of the 5G industry in China may not accelerate until 2021.The development of the global 5G industry had been fast before the outbreak. By the end of 2019, a total of 61 telecom operators worldwide had kicked off commercial 5G services, with the availability of 5G end-market devices totaling 208 items, Digitimes Research notes.Accumulated number of 5G base stations in China, 2019-2025 Source: Digitimes Research, February 2020