Governments around the world entered into a global climate deal at the recent Paris climate summit and therefore are enforcing related measures. Amid the growing trend, the top priority is how to improve buildings that are generally considered the most energy consuming. How to make use of technology such as IoT solutions and smart analytics to raise building operation efficiency is a critical topic.Construction of Tatung Smart Manor, a large smart green community on a plot of land measuring 16,000 pings (52892.8 square meters), recently broke ground. The project is likely to become the first residential complex in New Taipei City to be awarded with both the Diamond-Grade and Gold-Grade Green Building Candidate Certificates. It combines energy saving, carbon reduction and water conservation concepts and features smart home, smart healthcare, smart security control and smart grid functionalities for the community. Tatung Smart Manor is a landmark of smart green buildings that brings concepts to life.Breeze Yeh, Director, Smart Solution Business Unit, Tatung, indicates the Tatung Smart Manor project will be completed in three phases. The construction that has just begun falls in the first phase, including three smart green residential buildings with apartments having indoor floor space ranging from 22 pings to 72 pings. The project highlights the goal of reaching "433," meaning a 40% reduction in carbon emissions and a 30% reduction in both electricity and water consumption.Connecting devices, systems and cloud to build up an all-in-one smart projectWhether the "433" goal can be achieved depends on close cooperation among end devices in people's homes, middle-tier architectures and the cloud platforms. Tatung, founded as a home appliance vendor and then expanding into the industrial appliance, motor, energy and ICT sectors, has built up R&D capabilities required for building smart homes, smart buildings, and even smart communities. As such, Tatung is able to unshackle itself from the conventional thinking of constructors and bring to life a top-notch community of smart homes that is rarely seen in Taiwan.A smart apartment complex generally has to include at least three layers of smart living designs - the smart home, smart building and smart community. The smart home needs a smart home service gateway and more importantly, a smart in-home display (IHD) that serves as a communication interface between the home owner and the smart system. It should provide various scenario templates - such as those for home entertainment, sleep, and the time when the occupants are away from home - to meet the home owner's actual needs in everyday life. The different templates provide different settings of lighting, air conditioning, and curtains to achieve a safer, more convenient, more comfortable and greener life.Take Tatung Smart Manor for example. Every home is equipped with an automatic gas shutoff valve and a smart electricity meter supporting as many as 12 circuit loops. By making use of the smart meter and Big Data analytics, home owners can compare power consumption among different circuit loops and thereby find possible improvements on the electricity use in different areas. By comparing the energy consumption on the same circuit loop before and after a certain period of time, one can even see if some old devices are no longer energy-efficient, and therefore should be replaced.As to the smart building and public facilities, Tatung Smart Manor has sensors densely distributed throughout the common areas for the purposes of energy saving and security control. Take the swimming pool for example. Detectors for water flow, chlorine content and carbon dioxide levels are thoughtfully installed to help security guards monitor the swimming pool and determine when to close it or if there is still anyone swimming in the pool. Furthermore, chlorine content and carbon dioxide concentration readings can serve as the basis for the control of automatic opening and closing of smart windows.Making good use of IoT sensor technologies to build green, safe and healthy livingIn addition, micro weather stations are set up at outdoor areas of Tatung Smart Manor to collect weather information and upload it onto the back-end system, giving the residents timely access to the information about current weather conditions (including the level of PM2.5, which is an increasing concern for the public) and weather advice from the system through an app program. It should also be mentioned that there is a health center in the common area of Tatung Smart Manor that has long-term care instruments for residents to check physiological data including blood pressure, blood sugar, blood oxygen and heart rates. The data can be uploaded to the Tatung cloud medical care platform for personal health management. The health center can also work with medical care institutions as extended support for senior citizens or people with chronic illness to seek online medical advice.Tatung Smart Manor also has solar power systems installed on the rooftops of all the buildings to provide power for the common areas of the buildings and shades for the apartments on the top floor. Furthermore, the community is also equipped with elevators that support height-different power generation and there are large ponds for rainwater harvesting. Sensors installed in soil and close to trees are meant for smart plant watering, along with other measures to reduce water and energy consumption.Yeh states that the implementation of smart green buildings and communities is not necessarily limited to new construction projects and can also be applied to improvement of existing buildings or communities, and in either case, efforts on both system development and construction work have to be combined. Tatung is capable of providing comprehensive services including project planning, construction and maintenance. Tatung can also gather a team of partners and work with the government on experimental projects to gain experience, thereby creating a whole new business model and further expanding worldwide.Breeze Yeh, Director, Smart Solution Business Unit, Tatung, points out the company integrates R&D capabilities in the home appliance, long-term care, solar energy, electrical power and water discharge sectors, and is well capable of planning and implementing construction projects, and providing maintenance services. This is why Tatung is able to unshackle itself from the conventional thinking of constructors and build a top-notch smart green community.

The global memory price slump has been ongoing for years resulting from continuously shrinking PC shipment volumes. A considerable number of Taiwan-based memory makers do not have their own brands and lack the ability to develop critical technologies and therefore are having difficulty making ends meet. In comparison, AVEXIR Technologies, founded in 2006, has secured its position in the high-end memory market with robust R&D capabilities and marketing strategies.Total revenues have continued to set new records for years. The share of revenues generated from sales of own-brand products broke the 80% level in 2015, and is likely to go over 90% in 2016. This shows that with strong determination and devotion of time and effort, vendors can develop their own brands and compete with international players at a global level.Taking a retrospective look at the history of the company established ten years ago, Han-Hong Cheng, general manager, AVEXIR Technologies, says, "Taiwan-based memory vendors mostly operated on an OEM basis at that time. There were a handful of makers working on their own brands, but most of them only provided conventional memory modules. Unable to introduce offerings distinguished from other brands, it was only natural that they fell into price wars. However, a look at the business strategies of globally well-known brands would show that they all put great emphasis on R&D and innovation. Their products are aimed at midrange to high-end market segments to set themselves apart from the competition and build up their brand value."As such, AVEXIR Technologies was established with an aim at the high-end memory market in hopes of becoming a world leader in memory application products. A decision was made for the company to target the consumer market with the AVEXIR brand name. However, in consideration that their own brand lacked visibility at the start-up stage and most large distributors were less willing to work with AVEXIR Technologies, the company decided to operate on the OEM model as the main track and own-brand business as a side track, hoping to gradually increase its brand awareness on the memory market. Also by providing professional customization services that are unique around the market, AVEXIR Technologies enables more people to see its R&D and innovation abilities.Committed to R&D, AVEXIR Technologies holds more than sixty patentsWith semiconductor fabrication technologies continuing to advance, Cheng found that memory modules produced by different brand vendors are growing more and more similar in terms of performance and reliability in recent years. Common consumers would have difficulty discerning the differences among the variety of brands. Cheng therefore started to think about a future course of action for the company to grow on top of its high-end memory business and walk a new path different from the competitors'. In observing the changes in the consumer market, Cheng found gamers not only favor high-end memory with superior performance and reliability but also place emphasis on the combination of peripherals, such as the headphone and mouse. He therefore decided to expand into the gaming market six years ago, launching memory products specifically designed for gamers."Innovation on memory should not be limited to improvements on performance and reliability but it can also be about studying consumer needs and turning it into actual products on the market. This is the reasoning behind the launch of the Core series, the first on the market with lighting effects, developed from the perspectives of gamers. The series combines AVEXIR's in-house-developed LED tubes and light guide sticks blinking in a rhythm similar to breathing to deliver lighting effects that gamers love. AVEXIR Technologies has put years of efforts into innovative design, which has enabled the company to win international design awards including iF and Red Dot for many consecutive years and has attracted partnership deals with multiple distributors and motherboard makers," indicated Cheng.Over the years, AVEXIR Technologies has delivered a host of products that amaze the market. With a focus on building up a patent system, AVEXIR Technologies has filed more than sixty patent applications in Taiwan, China, Europe and the U.S. for the purpose of protecting its R&D achievements. Furthermore, since 2012, the company has also been partnering with major motherboard makers to launch a variety of product lines through licensing deals and cross-sector cooperation. For example, two ASUS ROG-certified gaming memory products were on exhibition at Computex 2015, which stirred up quite a craze at the event. The win-win partnership strategy has successfully boosted AVEXIR Technologies' revenues as well as AVEXIR's brand image around the globe.Belief makes the brandA priest in a small town in Texas where it had not rained for a long time decided to gather the townspeople outside the church to pray for rain. Although the people all lowered their heads to pray with sincerity, still not a drop of rain came down. When the crowd started to murmur and question the existence of God, the priest couldn't help blaming the people for being unfaithful. The people did not really believe in God as there was only one little girl that brought an umbrella.Cheng uses the story to elucidate belief and explain the motto written on the back of his company's business cards — "What We Believe is How We Behave." He stresses that AVEXIR Technologies is a business that acts on its belief because it is the power that drives the team forward. He is confident that AVEXIR Technologies will make the world's best gaming memory and become a pioneer in high-end memory modules. AVEXIR Technologies will build a world-class brand on the foundation of its establishment in Taiwan.Citing a Robert Frost poem, "two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference," Cheng elaborates on his business philosophy and the AVEXIR brand spirit one more time. He expects to see the company take the No. 1 spot in terms of its global market share of high-end memory in one to two years. However, that is not the ultimate goal as being competitive does not mean to hold onto a position but to keep on advancing to glorify the Made in Taiwan label. This will set a foundation that the company will build on top of over the next ten years.Han-Hong Cheng, general manager, AVEXIR Technologies

In an interview with Machina Research during Mobile World Congress, Patrick Kuo, CEO of ThroughTek, shares his thoughts on the mobile industry and addresses challenges in developing IoT devices for surveillance and smart home market.Machina Research: For readers who aren't very familiar with ThroughTek, can you introduce us to your company?Patrick Kuo: ThroughTek is a software company, providing turnkey IoT solution and cloud services with the Kalay Platform. Our extensive partnership with chipset vendors enables businesses to easily implement and rapidly deploy IoT ecosystems. We work mostly with enterprises, such as technology brands, device manufacturers, system integrators, and service providers to deliver managed services for multimedia and smart home application with integrated products.What are ThroughTek's main focus areas?Security continues to lead in smart home applications, so delivery of multimedia content plays a large part in surveillance. Our streaming server, is what largely differentiates us from our competition, supporting real-time two-way communication for the transmission of audio and images simultaneously. We offer video recording features with event detection to automate event capture capability and video playback to offer a complete smart home security.ThroughTek also works with device makers to extend their application use. We have started to see an increase in demand for smart home devices that relate to security, such as doorphones, which are now wireless and require remote access for monitoring and controlling door entry. Lighting, on the other hand, works well when combined with motion sensors to improve levels of comfort for the home, and adds a certain level of security when combined with wireless cameras. Robotics and telecare devices are another area we expect to make an impact in the near-future, used for the elderly and for child care to provide improved communication and interaction between end points. At the same time, we are currently improving our service offerings and expanding our partnerships to integrate third-party services to enrich applications for the delivery of IoT security, live broadcast and video analytics.Additionally, ThroughTek is currently developing the data collection and analytical framework of the Kalay Platform to define standards for data processing and machine learning. Through adaptive learning, we hope to offer an enterprise solution to capture and analyze data in real time to create values for predicting anomalous events or behaviors. Our goal is to provide an end-to-end solution to help enterprises connect devices and then manage and make the most out of their data through business intelligence.Until now, ThroughTek has focused a lot of attention on the surveillance segment. Which sectors do you think are particularly ripe for growth in 2016?Absolutely, the security and surveillance market was our main focus last year, but it will continue to grow across the globe, particularly as new applications create different types of demand. We are seeing the smart home market slowly mature, as telecoms and service providers are waking up and beginning to integrate security systems as part of their overall services. This has given us the opportunity to work on delivering increased manageability to devices and sensors for energy saving, security, and comfort for a more comprehensive smart home solution. End users can assign device groups, control lighting, room temperature, and more from their smart phones, wherever they happen to be.Can you share some thoughts on what the mobile industry is doing to support IoT, in particular as it affects the areas on which ThroughTek focuses?As consumers begin to buy-in with IoT, we will start to see device manufacturers realize the need to work closer with software companies. Semiconductor companies will be required to provide comprehensive solutions — for instance, those that involve security, software, or systems integration services in addition to hardware. ThroughTek being an example, we have always and will continue to work closely with our chipset partners to ensure that embedded chips within devices will be able to support software applications and increase product innovation.With the Internet of Things, real-time communications is key in real world networking environments. IoT growth will require comparably significant infrastructure development. Telecoms and service providers will need to improve network infrastructures in order to manage largescale data transportation, as more devices and sensors will be processing and handling data. The ability to operate efficiently and scale management of network infrastructure will be required to achieve the promise of the Internet of Things. Telecoms and service providers will also need to evaluate whether their pricing models will be competitive enough to scale and meet consumer needs.

Starting out as an OEM subcontracting jobs to laborers working at home 40 years ago, Conquer has now become the leader in fuse components. In the 1970s and 1980s when home appliances were being manufactured for exports, the production of traditional fuses generated considerable revenue for Conquer. Now half of the notebook PCs around the world use Conquer fuses."The history of Conquer's development is an exact reflection of the history of the development of Taiwan's industry," says Poshuo Chiu, Vice President, Conquer Electronics. "Early OEM production for PCBs often encountered problems of incompatible fuse specs or sizes. Subsequently along with the boom in the home appliance sector, Conquer was able to reach a peak in business. Now the close partnership with Delta Electronics where we provide a variety of customized products introduces challenges to our transition to a new phase."Undaunted by the red supply chain, Conquer secures the leading position with superior product offeringsConquer ships nearly 70% of products to China, so when the shipping costs are taken into consideration, Conquer products have no obvious pricing advantage. However, Conquer products still sell like hotcakes on the market because of the company's quick response to changes and superior product quality, both of which underlie Conquer's success.Furthermore, it is generally difficult for traditional passive component makers to undertake transformation. After a smooth business transition, Conquer products are now used not only in home appliances and ICT electronics, but also in Telsa charging posts, dual-wheel scooters, as well as in-vehicle infotainment systems and navigation equipment. Areas of future applications including electric power equipment, high-tech precision instruments, medical equipment, and even aerospace industry are all within Conquer's expansion plans.Conquer raises the barrier to competition by utilizing automated production and fast adjusting business plansAs a matter of fact, after manufacturing at Conquer gradually upgraded to automated production lines, pressure has shifted to its rivals. Although most competitors have production based in China, Conquer relies on its automated production lines, precise production estimates and logistics centers in China to accelerate shipments to customers, which take only one to four weeks, compared to competitors who need at least six weeks to deliver their products to clients. Conquer far surpasses its rivals in terms of both product quality and delivery, so factory location is of no concern.In addition, Conquer is expanding to North American and European markets. Conquer will see its products used in a wider variety of applications and will also make efforts to develop more miniature models to meet the requirements of mobile devices. "Maximizing application areas and minimizing product size is our development goal. The world can expect to see Conquer products in various applications from automobile electronics to energy industry," indicates Poshuo Chiu.Poshuo Chiu, Vice President, Conquer Electronics. With nearly 40 years of development, Conquer has become a world-class fuse supplier. The company is also transitioning to a new era with innovative thinking and implementation, as the second generation of management takes charge of business operations.

Embedded systems are ubiquitous and have long become an integral part of our life in various aspects. The performance of these systems is crucial to the smooth running of various functions of society. Clientron was established in 1983 and has been focusing on thin client, point of sales (POS), and car PC solutions. It is dedicated to providing the most reliable and secure embedded system solutions. With years of professional experience in the embedded system sector, Clientron is making headway into the Internet of Things (IoT) market to expand the product portfolio and business scope."I don't like to refer to thin clients as 'simplified PCs' in Chinese," said Kelly Wu, president of Clientron. "This may lead people think thin clients are very simple products. In fact a thin client requires design usually characterized by high reliability and low power consumption of the system. Also, to provide the right tools for thin clients, the systems are often customized to meet the specific needs of different industries. The systems have to be flexible to provide highly efficiency system platforms catering for the needs of entry-level to high-end sectors. Hence, to provide the right product, Clientron needs to have certain knowledge of various industries in order to produce highly customized tools. The entry barrier for this industry is not low."Powerful thin clients define generation 3.0Clientron's thin client team has comprehensive knowledge for each phase of the business - from product design, manufacturing, quality control, to marketing. Therefore it can provide high quality solutions. This is also the reason why Clientron has maintained an ODM partnership with one of the five largest thin client brands for nearly 20 years. The top-five thin client brands combined market share is about 80% worldwide.Clientron's thin client products are mainly used in industries that feel strongly toward data security such as goverment, banking, and enterprise. In recent years, the firm's products have also been used in logistics control and medical industries. Kerry Logistics, the largest logistics firm in the Greater China region, uses Clientron's thin client products. In addition, thin client products from Clientron can also be found on nursing carts and in hospitals and clinics.So far Clientron has designed more than 50 thin client products for different industries. Wu maintained, "We're so professional that we have the authority to define what thin clients are." Clientron plans to announce the details of Thin Client 3.0 at the 2016 Embedded World Exhibition.Unique POS designs favored by restaurants and retailersClientron's team has been attending various major exhibitions around the world for many years including EuroCIS, FHA, NRA, Embedded World and Computex. "We emphasize heavily on marketing because experience tells us that without seeing the actual products, customers mostly care about pricing. But once they see the actual products, prices becomes less of an issue and instead they will be very eager to have samples," said Wu.As for the POS product line, Clientron introduces three new designs annually to accommodate the need for ultra-slim and advanced enclosure designs. The firm recently introduced the Ares650 and Wing650. These two products are compact and lightweight, receiving much praise from customers. In particular, the Ares650 was specifically designed with an ultra-compact chassis to accommodate variety of demands in different fields. The product provides optional I/O expansion card modules to increase the flexibility, allowing customers to install POS peripherals in various applications. As for the Wing650, the series was designed with dual hinges to enhance user experience, supporting multi angles adjustment of the screen to allow the user to freely adjust to the best operation angle and fit it into different environments. The POS products provided by Clientron are mostly used in the hospitality and retail markets.Making gains in car PC market, setting sights on IoTIn addition to its success in the thin client and POS sectors, Clientron has also been making gains in the car PC market. The Clientron car PC products have entered the supply chains of Hainan Mazda and King Long United Automotive. Compared with other Taiwan-based car PC firms that only ship to the aftermarket (AM), Clientron has successfully entered the original equipment (OE) supply chain. "We are ready for the China's expanding electric vehicle market. Clientron will start making deployments in 2016 and expects to achieve substantial results in 2017," added Wu.Looking forward, Clientron plans to develop intelligient client solutions for the vertical market, extending thin clients' green energy, eco-friendly and innovative design concepts to various other sectors. Clientron also plans to strengthen their POS product line to provide smart retail and intelligent system solutions with the benefits of higher performance and power efficiency for the retail and hospitality industries. To embrace the era of IoT, Clientron will also develop sensors and edge computers in order to capture niche market opportunities and become a professional IoT solution provider.Kelly Wu, President & CEO of Clientron, discloses that the company is leveraging its embedded systems to expand into the IoT market.

Smart devices such as smartphones and wearables have changed the way we communicate and are transforming the cultural and social lives of just about everyone on the planet.As smartphones and other electronic devices become smaller, slimmer and faster with almost unlimited features, international technical pioneers, talented product designers and global brands require new technologies and processes from manufacturing service providers and equipment suppliers to enable more complex functionality in smaller form factors. The brands that succeed will be from companies that leverage new manufacturing equipment to increase manufacturing capacities so they can produce smaller, low-cost electronics-based solutions in high volume in anticipation of future demands.Mr. Asher Levy, CEO of Orbotech, recently disclosed the company's new strategy and vision for this type of manufacturing equipment, and Orbotech's move towards the development of advanced semiconductor packaging applications.The "Language of Electronics" - the vision for future electronics manufacturing solutionsFor background, Orbotech Ltd develops advanced manufacturing systems for the PCB (printed circuit board) assembly line, including automated optical inspection (AOI) systems, direct imaging systems, computer aided manufacturing (CAM) systems, as well as etch, deposition and thermal solutions. The company also offers advanced manufacturing solutions for the flat panel display and semiconductor industries.According to Mr. Levy, reading, writing and connecting through conversation are the major cornerstones of every language, including the "language" of electronics manufacturing."Electronics manufacturing 'literacy' covers automated optical inspection equipment, which is all about reading - you need to be able to study, inspect and verify the 'script' of key electronic elements such as printed circuit boards and flat panel displays," said Mr. Levy. "It also covers direct imaging, automated rework, metallization on multiple substrates and printed electronics, which are all indicative of electronics writing, as well as the production of advanced multi-stack packages, which requires proper connecting so that electronic components can engage in conversation."Orbotech believes the phrase "The Language of Electronics" is a good descriptor of its strategy and vision. In 2014, Orbotech acquired SPTS, a leading supplier of etch and deposition process equipment for the global semiconductor and microelectronic device manufacturing industries. The acquisition allowed Orbotech to accelerate its expansion into advanced packaging and MEMS with multiple manufacturing solutions for these growing segments. Orbotech now provides a broad offering of mission-critical solutions that serve product designers, global brands and electronics manufacturers.Technology development partnerships with Taiwan partners strengthen flexible display manufacturing offeringsOrbotech and ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), a leading non-profit Taiwan industrial technology development organization, have also entered into an agreement to collaborate towards overcoming the production challenges of the fast growing AMOLED flexible displays that will be used in foldable tablets, PCs, smartphones, and wearables. By applying high-yield manufacturing processes, Orbotech and ITRI will collaborate to help Taiwan electronics manufacturing service providers produce smart display devices in high volumes.For more than 34 years, Orbotech has enabled manufacturers to produce lifestyle-changing devices such as notebooks, PCs, smartphones and tablets. Orbotech will continue to work with leading R&D teams and technical partners, anticipating strategic projects for future collaboration. Orbotech also plans to expand its product portfolio in keeping with its position as an industry leader, process innovator and enabler for its partners in the micro-electronics ecosystem.Mr. Asher Levy, CEO of Orbotech

Looking at the world's fabless IC design sector, there have been various acquisition and business consolidation cases this year. The world's semiconductor industry is undergoing structural change due to the rises of South Korea and Taiwan, and China has also invested a great deal in this field already. Aiming for the global development of Japan's system LSI industry, with support by Development Bank of Japan, Socionext has merged with Fujitsu Semiconductor and Panasonic System LSI business and operates independently. For developing diverse system-on-chip (SoC) solutions, Socionext also appointed Mr. Yasuo Nishiguchi, the former CEO of Kyocera Corporation, to take the leadership. In a recent interview, he explained the company's vision and overall outlook for the SoC market in addition to the development of digital TV applications.Despite its just started operation in March this year, Socionext is a brand new Fabless IC design company with development focus on SoC solutions. Mr. Nishiguchi leads a group of executives and senior managers participating in COMPUTEX 2015. Besides the fabulous designed exhibition booth demonstrating Socionext up-to-date products, Mr. Nishiguchi also visited various customers, suppliers and news media to understand more business potential of Taiwan and explore the future cooperation with Taiwan OEM/ODM customers.In COMPUTEX, due to growing demands for 4K Ultra High Definition TV segment, Socionext has established its focus on applications such as image processing, sound effect, Google TV integration and WiGig wireless data communication solutions with the lowest power consumption on the market. The company's products highlight the All-in-one SoC solutions based on its high performance image processing engines, and are taking a leading step in producing solutions for UHD solutions, HDMI interface and versatile image conversion and transformation technologies as digital TV opportunities from Japan in particular unfold. Mr. Nishiguchi expresses the determination to improve the performance and functionality of digital TV products and services in order to provide new value to people beyond the mainly narrow thinking of cost and size of display panel only. In addition, advances in resolution are progressing from the conventional full HD to 4K and then to 8K in the area of TV broadcasting and web contents. Even audio is no exception, with 22.2 multichannel surround audio scheduled to be adopted in the next generation of broadcasting system.In light of this company's developments in All-in-one SoC series product lines, there is an outstanding conceptual demonstration station taking place in the middle of Socionext's booth for showing the newer generation of image processing engine called "PRO 5" chip. It shows thirty-six 4K quality video streams simultaneously in one 60-inch screen with a powerful interactive user interface control for aiming high end digital signage applications. This is a very impressive live demonstration about the future image processing capability from Socionext R&D works. Meanwhile, there are different innovative product ideas to be presented together with many partners to provide optimum solutions and services to end customers.Mr. Nishiguchi has been working in semiconductor industry for most of his career. Since 1975 he started with Kyocera and now taking the responsibility of Socionext set out for a new startup. His non-stop efforts to pursuit the technology excellence achieves the strengthening of corporate core competence successfully. These strategies also leverage the synergy to maximize customers' value and win the market. Socionext will utilize the same strategy to offer customizable solutions leveraging its engineering expertise in imaging and networking technologies. He also depicted, Taiwan electronics manufacturing service vendors own the superior manufacturing capability with a bunch of hard working engineers and ready react instantly toward the rapidly changing market. Therefore, Mr. Nishiguchi strong presented, to cooperate with Taiwanese companies, will come together to form a competitive edge and have chance to win the market.From the market study and survey, Mr. Nishiguchi discovered more than 60% of TV in Taiwan manufactured by OEM/ODM vendors. About the 4K TV sector, however, how to integrate the smarter ideas and new innovative solutions into digital TV applications will be the next key driving force of market development. This is why Socionext increases the visit to Taiwan and continuous brings the new idea to discuss with Taiwan vendors. With latest technology and rich design resources accumulated over many years, Socionext is able to provide OEM/ODM customers sophisticated solutions to enhance the value of their products.Mr. Nishiguchi ever taught in Doshisha University as a MBA professor. He studied Taiwan ODM/OEM supplier chain and market, he figured the global brands only place orders to Taiwan but never graft their technology or ideas at the same time. But this time, Socionext is willing to transplant the whole ideas including technology and applications to Taiwan including placing manufacturing orders. That means Taiwan will be Socionext's real partner not just a factory. Socionext will head for a bright future with Taiwan. Mr. Nishiguchi emphasized and delivered a strong message to Taiwan: Socionext is not only selling chips to Taiwan but also trying to co-develop products with OEM/ODM vendors through the advanced technology and creative product ideas. Socionext is willing to invest its own company engineering resources and fully support the co-developed projects from quality and cost prospective to meet the market requirements.Mr. Yasuo Nishiguchi, Socionext CEO

We are constantly bombarded with electromagnetic waves of all kinds of radio frequencies (RF), many of them have been encoded with specific information, whether it is a voice, a tone, or various digital data streams. Electronics devices such as wireless router (Access Point), cordless phone, baby monitor and garage gate remote control are all counted on radio frequency wireless technology.Not only home market but also the public service sectors like Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), the system by collecting tolls automatically through accounts of registered car owners without requiring them to stop, are engaged to new emerging RF applications.AMICCOM Electronics Corporation (AMICCOM), founded in November 2005 and listed in Taiwan Over-the-Counter GreTai Securities Market in May 2013, is an expert in RF SoC sector. Peter Chen, product marketing manager, highlighted there are three major product lines divided by different frequency ranges and features. They are 2.4GHz, sub-1GHz and LNB RF chips.In 2.4GHz product line mainly are focus on the applications including wireless mouse deices, wireless earphone and other PC peripherals, wireless toys and baby monitor systems. AMICCOM RF ICs enjoy a very good market share in China market. Taking baby monitor as an example, the benefits of granted FCC and other safety compliance certification help AMICCOM staying the dominant market position in China white box market in Dongguan and Shenzhen area. Once the chips have been designed in the specification, the vendors won't change it because significant time and money investment to get new safety certification again and again.Competition among this frequency range is fierce, and most of the fabless chipmakers are facing pressure to upgrade their wireless technology and product quality, shorten lead time and competitive pricing rates. Hence, AMICCOM is continuing to focus on the complexity of consumer IC designs including the combination of audio and RF IC together.Apart from 2.4GHz tight competition market, low-noise block downconverter (LNB), which is the receiving device mounted on satellite dishes used for satellite TV reception to collect the radio waves from the dish, is a very niche market for satellite communication system. AMICCOM is one of few suppliers who can offer LNB Switch Matrix IC to Taiwan satellite EMS vendors.China government tenders strengthen the growth momentum of RF chipsPC peripheral segment contributes a good chip volume for the company except big profit earnings. The sub-1GHz segment is becoming a cash cow for AMICCOM. This is because several mainstream applications in China city development projects leverage the benefits from RF technologies. Some AMICCOM's cooperated system integrators and partners joined together and successfully won China ETC System government tenders by using AMICCOM RF SoC products. The solution is achieving low power consumption and low voltage drive for battery operation with a very good link budget. There is one most impressive feature which is 4mA Ultra low Rx receiving current. This specification is only one third power consumption of other competitor's products.AMICCOM will continue developing products suited for the growing China market and aim to expand to different region of cities across China. Peter mentioned the new development of design-in phase toward China smart grid tender competition. This solution is aiming automatic meter reading, which is a technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from energy metering devices such as gas or electricity and transferring that data to a central database for billing. It will be a new potential business opportunity for the next 12 months.Other upcoming and booming applications are automotive electronics solutions using RF technologies. Peter presented themselves as an RF IC provider and designed a series of RF IC chips aiming automotive market, especially car alarm system in automotive aftermarket sector. He highlighted there are third party developers have already built solutions using AMICCOM technology for this application. For example, the multifunction RF control to find the parking location of the car and equip with features of pre-starting up the engine. This design is specially fitting the requirement in the winter time of Russia area.In Eurpoe, the remote sensing and control system for the seat heating pads are one of the applications to be used in the automobile aftermarket. It is also a good potential for other areas. AMICCOM is seeking more versatile applications in automotive aftermarket using RF technology.ESL system drives new emerging solutionsThe physical retail stores have been stressing out about competition from online stores. Retailers tried introduce different electronic technologies to maintain the competence in the market. An electronic shelf label (ESL) system is a good example to display this innovation approach. ESL implemented by retailers enhanced the capability of displaying product pricing on shelves. Typically, the ESL modules are attached to the front edge of retail shelving. These modules use E-paper to show the current product price to the customer.AMICCOM supported this project through 3rd party POS(Point of Sales) system integrators and one Taiwan E-paper supplier. E-paper is currently trending in the ESL market as it provides clear display and supports full graphic imaging. Integrated with AMICCOM RF technology, the wireless communication network has been built and allowed the price display to be automatically updated whenever a product price is changed. Meanwhile, dynamic pricing is helping retailers to fluctuate pricing to match demand, online competition, inventory levels, shelf-life of items, and to create promotions.The demands of automated ESL systems got attention from industry. AMICCOM strength in this field is mainly from RF IC products equipped with higher data transmitting speed and ultra low power consumption and time to market support. These unique capabilities are maintaining very high competitive strength in industry.Effective supply chain, strong partnership and solid RF technology form AMICCOM successful factorsAMICCOM realized that the only product to survive in the market is to improve their core competence in order to design complex IC, which can meet the rapid change in demand. Hence, AMICOMM started to focus on the complexity of new generation SoC ICs.Considering the red ocean competition in low data speed rate and low power segments, the new product roadmap will target more product portfolios toward high data speed and low power solutions aiming both 2.4G and 5.8GHz range. And the 5.8GHz SoC ICs will be ready soon.To create a sustainable competitive advantage, R&D investment is essential. In AMICCOM, half of the employees are R&D engineers, which show their dedication of designing innovative and functional SoC products. The headquarter is located at HsinChu Science Park. And another two FAE offices have been setup at Shenzhen and Shanghai to support customers in China.A fabless RF chipmaker whoever provides total solutions to satisfy the significant needs of clients would be a winner. Effective supply chain management and a strong relationship with suppliers can shorten the distance between development teams and customers. The supply chain network of AMICCOM is complete and solid. The strong relationship with foundries allowed them to fabricate outstanding and sophisticated SoC products that meet international standards. Through solid IC product development and strong presence in China and Taiwan RF market for years, AMICCOM is expecting more cooperation projects in North America and Europe market.

The number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices worldwide is estimated to rapidly grow from 900 million in 2009 to 26 billion in 2020, an increase by more than 30 times, driven by the prevalence of network infrastructure and continuing advances in sensor technology. Seeing the vast unprecedented opportunities, businesses around the globe are gearing up to grab a share of the market and trying to secure a leading position in the IoT industry.IoT, which has been receiving a great deal of attention from the global information technology industry, involves three major elements: a connecting element, a sensing element, and a processing unit. CEVA, holding the largest share of the DSP market, started its deployment in the IoT market at an early stage. With its keen sense of market needs, CEVA has established complete product lines for all three major IoT elements, which will help Taiwan-based corporations quickly penetrate into market segments such as smart home and wearable devices.Eran Briman, VP Marketing, CEVA, remarked, "IoT seeks to create higher values by enabling automatic transmission of data to back-end servers. As such, connecting elements are definitely the cores of IoT development. For example, the smart home cannot do without connection to various devices such as smartphones, wristbands, and monitoring devices, so wireless transmission elements including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and PLC are essential. CEVA is one of the few suppliers in the world that are capable of delivering total solutions."As opposed to other competitors who supply single-purpose solutions, CEVA offers a low power consumption core, CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP, with a combination of highly reliable connection module devices for customers to choose among Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and PLC modules based on the market positions of their products so that the customer's design process can be simplified to accelerate time-to-market.Acquiring RivieraWaves to enhance total solutionsDespite its leadership in the DSP market for years, CEVA still strives to keep up with the changing market, to grasp the industry trend, and to devote resources to early development of advanced technologies. Eyeing the vast opportunities arising from IoT and the indispensable wireless transmission elements in IoT development, CEVA, having evaluated a number of factors, decided in July 2014 to acquire RivieraWaves, who had been a partner of CEVA for two years. In addition to helping CEVA further secure its industry leadership, the acquisition will also give CEVA's partners access to connection elements with high efficiency and low power consumption, enhancing their competitiveness in the US$300 billion IoT market.Founded in 2010, RivieraWaves is a startup IP provider focused on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies. In spite of its short history and a staff of only about 30 members, RivieraWaves' strong R&D capabilities have turned the company into a major communication IP supplier in the world in just a few years. RivieraWaves has signed over 30 licensing agreements with many customers using its IP. Many consumer electronic products run on RivieraWaves-licensed technologies, including the Xiaomi wristband that is hugely popular in China. It is evident that RivieraWaves is armed with outstanding wireless communication technologies.Briman explained, "CEVA does not limit product development to high performance, low power consumption DSP but rather we aim at being an all-round IP supplier. As for wireless communication solutions, we had cooperated with RivieraWaves for over two years when we began considering the possibility of bringing the cooperation to a closer level. After confirming there should be no problem in terms of corporate cultures for the two companies to merge, we decided to officially complete the merger in July 2014, which is believed to bring 20-25% revenue growth for CEVA."RivieraWaves' wireless communication solutions, already being widely used in smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices, will help CEVA expand shares in the markets of mobile devices and wearable devices, when combined with CEVA's DSP technology. Furthermore, as CEVA's DSP technology has been constantly receiving positive reviews in the fields of communication, speech, and visual applications, the merger will facilitate quick penetration into emerging markets, such as those for IoT, smart city, and smart home.No other IP supplier in the industry is capable of offering integrated software-hardware wireless transmission solutions without which a great deal of time and resources has to be spent on system integration, resulting in significant increases in R&D costs. Now with CEVA's solutions, partners only need to focus on developing applications software without having to worry about system integration.Robust CEVA-MM3101 targeting smart carsCEVA has been cultivating the market of image and computer vision solutions for many years. CEVA products are known to be easy to use and energy efficient and thus are very popular in the consumer market. Many safety systems, such as pedestrian detection systems, on vehicles of major automobile brands rely on CEVA solutions. CEVA-MM3101 launched in 2013 is especially designed for use in image enhancement and computer vision applications. It features hardware acceleration to ease processor load and thereby save precious power and computation resources.Compared to competitors' solutions, CEVA-MM3101 is more energy efficient and features over 750 most frequently used computer visual functions in the CEVA-CV database such as CV cores and algorithms used in mobile computing, PC, smart TV, NUI devices, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). These technologies are widely adopted in gesture recognition, facial recognition, and gaze detection.Briman pointed out, "Take the smart car designed for safe driving for example. Many cars will automatically measure the distance to the car in front or detect approaching pedestrians, and accordingly take control of the brake system to prevent accidents. CEVA-MM3101 is capable of quickly detecting images and thus is widely used in automobiles by partners. CEVA-MM3101 can instantly transmit the image back to the driver and can also work with a computer to let it judge whether to decelerate or initiate the brake."As IoT encompasses a wide variety of products, Briman suggested that Taiwan-based manufacturers start from smart watches, smart wristbands, and smart homes, where they may have a good chance of gaining market shares. Consumers are anticipating smart home applications as they will be able to connect with monitoring and security control devices to provide safer homes. This is a field that is promising great opportunities and therefore should not be overlooked. As to smart watches and smart wristbands, the consumer market has yet to embrace them with as much enthusiasm as expected because their development has still been limited by battery life. The industry will be able to more clearly see the trend going forward by observing the impact and changes to the wearable device market after the launch of Apple's iWatch next year.Eran Briman, VP Marketing, CEVA

Sales of handsets in the India market reached 61.07 million units in the first quarter of 2014, with smartphones accounting for 17.59 million units or 28.8%. Notably, smartphone sales showed a 186% on-year growth in the first quarter compared to a 31% growth recorded in China, indicating rising growth momentum in India, according to IDC. The market research firm expects smartphone sales in India to top 80.57 million units in 2014, with a CAGR of over 40% in the next five years.Despite booming sales, a total of 78% of smartphones sold in India are tagged below US$200. Meanwhile, local brands are emerging as major players, with Micromax, Karbonn and Lava taking a 15%, 10% and 6% share, respectively, to serve as the second, third and fourth largest vendors in India, trailing after only Samsung Electronics (35%). Under such circumstances, is there room for Taiwan-based handset vendors or related handset component suppliers to make further deployments in India? Digitimes president Colley Hwang met with Micromax co-founder Rajesh Agarwal to discuss this issue and gain insights about the India market.Q: Could you talk about the major milestones for your companies in the past few years as well as your strategies for the future?A: Micromax started from scratch to become the top handset vendor within just a few years. We shipped 25 million handsets in 2013 and expect to sell 40 million units in 2014. Give us some more time we will have an opportunity to enter the world's top-10 vendors list.In the market place, Micromax has become a well-known brand in India and tends to also become the best platform for foreign products to use as a channel in the India market. We believe that any solutions available worldwide can make an entrance into the India market through Micromax's sales channels, and Micromax also does not confine itself to the handset business.Q: Could you also talk about the current status of India's handset market, and what are the strategies being adopted by Micromax to approach the market?A: We currently import about three million handsets a month from China, accounting for a significant portion of the monthly imports of 21 million handsets by India on the whole. Not only consumers are sensitive to pricing, the ever-declining ASPs have also continued to mount pressure on handset vendors. Micromax's ASP for handsets stood at US$60-70 in 2013 and is expected to drop to around US$55 in 2014.Q: China-based brand Xiaomi Technology has just made inroads into India. How do you assess the competitive pressure that China-based brands will bring into the India market?A: Xiaomi indeed has come out aggressively, but China is China and India is India, as social and cultural conditions of the two nations are not identical. For example, channel operators in India seldom leverage online marketing, and after-sale service support networks are one of the major advantages local brands have. The hunger marketing used by Xiaomi in China is not necessarily applicable in India. Micromax will win over Xiaomi in India as we have the ability to compete effectively with Samsung.Micromax posted revenues of US$1.2 billion in 2013 and is likely to ramp up its revenues to US$2.0 billion in 2014. To meet market demand more flexibly, Micromax has also been trying to manufacture handsets in-house. We are now importing SKD products from abroad for production of up to 600,000 units of mobile devices a month. We aim to control more value from production processes and we are also assessing the value to be generated from other segments, such as online networks and software.Micromax will focus on four strategic segments: Internet, handsets, smart TVs and LED products. The Internet is everywhere, whether it is for marketing or rendering value-added services. Micromax will pay strong attention to any online services which are instrumental to its business expansion and will look for proper opportunities to participate in these businesses.For the handset business, as we have been the number one local brand in India, we certainly will continue to optimize this advantage. Micromax has not only continued to deepen its deployments in India but we have also moved aggressively into neighboring countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Micromax now serves as the second largest handset vendor in these two countries. In addition to markets in South Asia, we are also looking for opportunities to make inroads into the Russia market, and also aim to hold a comprehensive advantage in emerging markets.Micromax believes that smart TVs serve as a key element in building a complete IT industry ecosystem. We will look for cooperation partners in the smart TV sector, and Taiwan-based makers may serve as the best partners. Micromax plans to go to public in 2015 and thus we will have more room to seek cooperation partners prior to being listed. Of course, we will be a worthy partner for Taiwan-based companies to approach for cooperation talks. While we believe that Taiwan could be the best partner for us, we do not yet have the whole picture regarding to how strong the ambition Taiwan's companies have for building up a handset supply chain in India.Micromax has held cooperation talks with a number of Taiwan-based companies including BenQ, but nothing has been ever finalized. A lack of in-depth understanding of each side has made the previous industry meetings empty talks. But now since the market environment has become more mature, companies from Taiwan and India may be able to find a new cooperation model.Micromax headquarters in Gurgaon, IndiaPhoto: Colley Hwang, Digitimes, August 2014Micromax co-founder Rajesh AgarwalPhoto: Colley Hwang, Digitimes, August, 2014