Demand from datacenters will remain strong in 2022, and server makers expect orders to be particularly strong in the first quarter of next year. In Southeast Asia, unicorn companies are emerging rapidly, partly thanks to its large population and fast growing economy.
Server ODMs including Quanta Computer and Wiwynn remain upbeat about their shipment prospects for next year, and expect a particularly strong first quarter of 2022 thanks to a continued ramp-up in orders for datacenter and other server applications, according to industry sources.
Japan-based industrial control and automation equipment maker Omron will invest in Taiwan-based collaborative robot maker Techman Robot, according to Techman.
As smart medical care has become a global trend, Taiwan's ICT industry will play an essential role in the local development of smart medical care, according to Acer founder Stan Shih.
In 2006, the Nintendo Wii started a new era of home fitness. And more recently with the advent of cloud and AI technology, home fitness is once again raised to new heights as professional online fitness services are becoming mainstream. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on across the globe, the world has seen virtual fitness programs become both a new reality for fitness enthusiasts and a new income source for fitness centers. Unsurprisingly, CES 2021 saw many businesses unveil their virtual fitness programs targeting this new market. Among them is Uniigym, a TTA-assisted startup with its own in-house developed AI cloud interactive fitness technology service. Uniigym boasts professionally designed fitness entertainment with a much lower barrier to entry and has attracted the interest of companies around the globe.
MIH has unveiled its Open EV Software Platform that enables automotive developers to create applications with smartphone-like development experience, in close partnership with Arm, Microsoft and Trend Micro.
Foxconn has been aggressive in expanding its presence in the EV sector, and it is looking to promote localized EV production in various regions to tap respective markets. Robust orders for HPC chips from AMD and Nvidia are expected to drive sales growth at TSMC in 2022. Quanta Computer's server manufacturing facilities in Taiwan have reached almost full production capacity and will open a new plant in Thailand next year to produce server motherboards.
Cloud computing supplier VMware has been focusing more and more on its development in India and it has hired over 6,000 employees in India, much more than those at its headquarters in California, according to company CEO Raghu Raghuraman.
Global server shipments are expected to increase around 6% on year in 2022, driven primarily by order pull-ins from datacenter operators. For the short term, the growth will benefit from stabilizing supply of ICs and components and the releases of Intel's and AMD's new CPU platforms, which will stimulate replacement demand. In the long term, rising demand for cloud and 5G white-box telecom servers, as well as new hardware, will enable the global server shipments to achieve a CAGR of close to 7% during the period of 2021-2026, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest five-year (2022-2026) forecast report on the server industry.
Fast development of 5G, AI, IoT, deployment of infrastructure and increasing demand for digital transformation are expected to bring many business opportunities for industrial computing device makers, but they have to step into cloud computing-based hardware/software-integrated IPC 3.0 innovation platform convergence to upgrade their products and services, according to Steve Chiu, chairman and CEO Chiu of Ennoconn.
For both normal corporate buildings and factories, the types of energy needed are diverse, such as water, electricity, oil, and gas. The energy costs account for a high proportion of operating costs. Therefore, the strengthening of management benefits using complete mechanisms is necessary for the operations of energy systems in corporations and parks. As a result, smart energy management systems have been gradually introduced. However, these smart platforms are mostly aimed at the management of a single energy type and cannot respond to the effects of interactions between different energy types. InSynerger offers 24-hour energy and electromechanical equipment cloud AI management which can help companies establish a unified management platform. The management system can display data from different energy equipment in a visual interface to the manager through the integration of on-premise equipment and cloud systems, making management easier and more efficient.
UnaBiz, a Singapore-based Internet of Things (IoT) service provider, has raised over US$25 million in its Series B funding round led by SPARX Group. The round was oversubscribed, with participation from CDIB, G K Goh and Thaioil, according to the UnaBiz.
Cooling fan maker Power Logic has completed product validation for its 5G server cooling solutions, which will soon be ready for volume production, according to the company.
As cloud and 5G applications continue to grow, the demand for data centers remains high, opening up opportunities for related supply chains such as connectors.
Industrial computing device maker and solution provider Advantech has reported consolidated revenues of NT$5.490 billion (US$197 million) for September, the highest-ever monthly level with growth of 6.57% on month and 26.21% on year.
As network infrastructures around the globe continue to mature, the declining cost of sensor components has given rise to a surge of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which has itself become an important driving force for current global economic growth. According to research from the McKinsey Global Institute, the overall IoT market is estimated to reach US$4-11trillion by 2025. But behind the prospering business prospects lies the equally concerning problem of growing IT security threats. Currently, IoT devices have become a preferred target of hacker groups, who use them as a convenient relay to launch volumetric and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to demand ransoms or achieve specific political objectives, posing an unprecedented threat to businesses or countries.
South Korean companies from chaebols (large family-owned businesses) to network platform authorities to large Internet companies such as Kakao, Naver and Coupang, are starting to feel tense. Contributing factors include the upcoming South Korean presidential election that will be held in March 2022, as well as Samsung Group chairman Lee Jae-Yong's recent parole from prison.
Innolux has obtained orders for LCD panels used in automotive, industrial and commercial displays with shipments scheduled until first-quarter 2022, according to company president James Yang.
Server and storage device chassis maker Chenbro Micom will undertake trial run at a new factory in Chiayi, Taiwan in October 2021 and start production in the following month, according to company chairperson Maggi Chen.
Intel has introduced Loihi 2, its second-generation neuromorphic research chip, and Lava, an open-source software framework for developing neuro-inspired applications. Their introduction signals Intel's ongoing progress in advancing neuromorphic technology.
Against the backdrop of nonstop technological advancements, smart energy has become a key policy for governments and enterprises around the globe. However, despite years of development, there is still room for improvement in the three major areas of innovative energy solutions: generation, storage, and conservation. A team led by Cheng-Chien Kuo, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech), has been using AI and various information technology (IT) tools to help government agencies, factories, enterprises, households and other users track their electricity information more accurately and allow for the formulation of strategies that can further optimize energy use.
The server sector has not seen any improvements so far, and server supply is expected to fall short of demand through mid-2022. Notebook vendors are generally still upbeat aboout demand in first-half 2022 although some market watchers have expressed skepticism, judging from the weak demand in some market segments. China's restrictions on electricity use have sent many manufacturers worrying about their production, but Innolux president James Yang believes that such measures could curb over-expansions in production capacity, and keep LCD prices stable.
