Looking at the overall condition of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) market in 2023, efforts to reallocate and adjust the electronics supply chain are palpable amidst the decline in demand for consumer electronic products and the economic impact of high inflation. However, these endeavors seem powerless in reversing the domino effect created by the risks in a recessionary environment. Even though the economy has been relatively conservative, several trends reveal some optimistic news from an analytical standpoint. First, the industry is excited over the robust demand capacity for IC substrates, strongly reflecting the long-term need for advanced IC substrates brought about by Beyond fifth-generation (B5G), Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC), and ADAS automotive chips. These potentially high-growth segments can be seen as new blue oceans for Taiwan's PCB industry.
AMICCOM released a new generation of low current sub1-GHz wireless SOC, named A9129M0. AMICCOM continues to integrate the existing RFICs with MCU and roll-out highly integrated SOC products. The new A9129M0 SOC, like their previous generation products, come from integrating MCU with A7129, which have excellent RF performance and extremely low receiving current. The A9129M0 supports FSK modulation. This chip integrates high performance ARM Cortex-M0, built-in 128Kbyte Flash Memory, 16 Kbytes SRAM, 22 GPIOs and various digital interfaces. 2-wire ICE can be developed with Keil C.
MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKS), a global provider of enabling technologies that transform our world, announced that its strategic brands ESI (Laser Systems) and Atotech (process chemicals, equipment, software, and services) will present their combined product offering of leading manufacturing solutions for printed circuit boards and package substrate manufacturing at the upcoming 24th Taiwan Circuit Board Industry International Exhibition (TPCA Show 2023), and the 18th International Microsystems, Packaging, Assembly and Circuit Technology Conference (IMPACT 2023), to be held from October 25th to 27th, 2023 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
Medical care devices are closely relevant to human health. Therefore, all countries have very stringent standards when it comes to medical devices. ASUS VivoWatch boasts "electrocardiogram application software" and "blood pressure application software," both of which have obtained certification from the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA). The application software is the first proprietary healthcare wearable electrocardiogram and blood pressure application software researched and developed in Taiwan. Currently, the company is in the process of applying for FDA certification in the United States, and several medical institutions are working with ASUS to create various value-added services through VivoWatch. ASUS Chief Operating Officer and Global Senior Vice President, Joe Hsieh, pointed out that the interest proves the functions and qualities of the watch have gained trust in the market.
Following the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, which has posed a serious challenge to medical facilities worldwide, governments have come to realize how precious medical capacities are. As such, the policy focus of government agencies and medical institutions has to gradually incorporate mechanisms that reflecting patient risk levels as to optimize limited medical resources. FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology has the potential in becoming part of a home healthcare system that facilitates the efficiency of medical resource allocation in society due to its ease of use and high accuracy. As a result, FaceHeart's technology has recently gained the attention of the medical industry. According to Jerry Chang, president of FaceHeart, the company has submitted a clinical trial application to the FDA in 2022. If the process goes smoothly, the company will receive certifications between 2023 and 2025 for vital signs measurements. It would be able to capitalize on ample business opportunities arising from the new era of medical care.
The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has come in the wake of changes in consumer shopping patterns. And with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become both a common routine and an indispensable part of life for most people nowadays. According to a report from Euromonitor International, the annual growth of e-commerce in 2020 reached 26.94% globally, and it showed double-digit growth over the next few years. This wave has driven more SMEs and individual sellers to sell their products to overseas markets through cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba. On top of that, there are also many dropshipping companies on the market without warehousing and inventory, meaning that after the buyer places an order, the dropshipping company will deliver the goods directly to the wholesaler, avoiding the pressures of keeping inventory and making deliveries. However, regardless of the sales model, these individual sellers and SME e-commerce companies often ignore the complex process involved in cross-border sales, so their overall performance has not met expectations for growth.
Tensions in international trade since 2018 have complicated supply chain resilience for the leading top-tier brands within the electronics industry. Complex customer clearance and high tariffs have risen to the top of many purchasing problem-solving agendas. The need for supply chains outside of Greater China has become a prominent hot topic within corporate strategies. As the world experienced strict Chinese governmental lockdowns during the COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Pneumonia) epidemic, over-reliance on manufacturing within the Mainland called for alternative solutions. The moving trend towards Southeast Asian countries has since escalated.
The world has come to a consensus over the importance of developing renewable energies to mitigate the greenhouse effect and decrease our over-reliance on fossil fuels. In particular, solar energy has risen to become one of the primary methods of power generation. However, the relatively short life cycle of solar PV panels, which is approximately 20 years, has resulted in the accumulation of waste PV panels awaiting processing in many countries. According to a model by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 365 million tons of waste PV panels will be generated globally by 2050; as a result, the recycling of end-of-life PV panels has become an urgent issue.
As the wave of ESG has overtaken the world, the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held early this year centered around the theme of sustainable development to address global challenges. A diverse range of innovative solutions presented by attending participants were showcased. Among the exhibitors, Taiwan's Mbran Filtra participated in CES with a proprietary innovative filtration material, which ultimately won an award in the "Environmental Protection" category, for its potential in bringing a never-before-seen contribution to all humankind. In fact, with assistance from the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), Mbran Filtra has participated and won awards for two consecutive years. At CES 2022, Mbran Filtra won an award for "the world's smallest filter."
In the face of the global net-zero emissions trend, Taiwan's manufacturing industries will need to provide comprehensive carbon emissions data to meet government regulations and customer needs. However, it is fairly difficult to collect comprehensive machinery data without affecting the operation of production lines. Built with LoRa technology on LPWAN (low-power wide area network), Blutech's NeVerLoSs LoRa and WSDMS (Wireless Sensor Data Management System) can help manufacturers set up industrial control dashboard and energy consumption analysis platforms quickly, which is the first step in digital transformation.
