As power systems of EVs differ greatly from those of oil-fueled cars, automakers require innovative technologies to manufacture and assemble key system components, leading to a growing demand for 3D measurement and quality inspection solutions to boost precision and accuracy of the components, according to Road Ahead Technologies Consultant (RATC), a 3D measurement solutions provider in Taiwan.
Taiwan-based industrial PC makers have moved to adjust their inventory levels amid the easing of chip and component shortages, according to industry sources.
Aware of the air quality and the impact of exhaust emissions since her days studying Ph.D., Natalia Mykhaylova and her team at WeavAir created an analytics tool to help clients in hospitality, retail, transportation, commercial, logistics, and industrial to monitor the changes in the air condition and contamination on-site, space maintenance needs, and energy efficiency in a continuous and adaptive way.
Brand notebook vendors have cut back orders with suppliers in 2022, particularly orders for Chromebooks, and have also revised downward annual shipment targets, according to sources at IC design houses.
LED packaging specialist Brightek Optoelectronic has expressed caution about its business prospects for the second quarter, when sales are expected to hit bottom for 2022.
Wireless telecommunications has escaped the worst effects of the semiconductor shortage, and that semiconductors for cellular infrastructure equipment will continue to dodge significant shortages going forward. In addition, availability of chips for Wi-Fi access points and cellular phones will continue to improve through 2023, Strategy Analytics said in its recent report.
Taiwan's notebook ODMs Quanta Computer and Inventec both have released positive outlook for their shipment performance in the second half of the year, though some market observers and brand vendors believe the notebook market may be going downhill amid dwindling COVID-driven demand.
Taiwan-based server makers Quanta Computer and Inventec are expecting shipments to grow in the second half of the year thanks to strong demand from US-based cloud service providers.
Hon Hai Precision Technology (Foxconn) has reiterated a flat revenue growth outlook for both the second quarter of 2022 and the full year, while order visibility has also strengthened compared to March.
Pegatron expects its notebook shipments to decline 5-10% sequentially in the second quarter, while shipments of its desktop PCs and motherboards will fall 30-35% on quarter. Non-PC product shipments will also fall sequentially during the quarter.
Amid the global supply chain shift, digitization and climate change, Tata Group is accelerating its business transformation, including planning to launch a battery company for the global market.
Asustek Computer expects its PC shipments to drop 10% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2022, with motherboard and graphics card shipments dropping 10-15% over the previous quarter.
Overall notebook production in China, which mainly takes place in major coastal cities in eastern China, is unlikely to return to pre-lockdown levels until July, according to industry sources. Insufficient manpower and logistical problems were cited as the main challenges.
Taiwan-based EMS provider Qisda has been heavily impacted by the lockdowns in China, but remains optimistic about growth in 2022. Lockdown impacts are expected to persist through the second half of 2022, despite originally being expected to ease in the first half.
Quanta Computer's production capacity for MacBook Pros at its Shanghai, China site so far still has not been fully restored and consumers who place orders for Apple notebooks now may not receive the devices until mid-July, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
China's COVID lockdowns and restrictions have little impacted order placements from clients despite causing shipment delays, but supply chain players may not be able to fully resume order fulfillment momentum until after their manufacturing operations return to normal in the third quarter of the year, according to sources at PC component makers.
EMS provider Foxconn Electronics has reported consolidated revenues of NT$486.464 billion (US$16.50 billion) for April, decreasing 4.13% sequentially and 2.80% year-on-year.
Southeast Asia is unlikely to replace China as the world's manufacturing hub in the short term, according to Tom Cho, chairman of ODM Inventec. For Taiwanese businesses, the decision to relocate depends on customers and whether it would increase competitiveness.
EMS provider Qisda has been making efforts to fulfill ESG (environmental, social, governance) responsibilities based on the notion that "no ESG means no money," for implementation of ESG can build excellent corporate image, help companies attract outside investors and strengthen companies' innovation and competitiveness as well as employees' loyalty, according to company chief human resource and sustainability & risk officer Danny Lin.
We all live in a connected world with ubiquitous sensors and connected devices. These connected devices are often powered by batteries without direct access to a power supply, which makes power consumption a top concern when choosing the appropriate wireless communication technology for IoT devices.
The Chinese city of Kunshan has started easing its COVID lockdown, but local supply chains are unlikely to resume normal operations until mid- or late May, according to industry sources.
AI has permeated well into the modern society playing a crucial role in a wide variety of applications, but AI systems, just like all kinds of computer operating systems, can hardly avoid being hacked. Therefore how to make them stay immune to attacks has become a common goal for all those engaged in the AI technology development, Wei-Bin Lee, CEO of Hon Hai Research Institute under Foxconn Technology Group, has said.
Canada AI company Pleora Technologies which created GigE Vision, a standard for networking cameras and processing in industrial automation projects, joined the 2022 Canada Trade Office Taipei (CTOT) startup accelerator program, hoping to find strategic partners which are system integrators or hardware manufacturers and together expand its industrial automation markets in Asia.
