The Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the global economy.

Countries around the world are struggling with opening their economies while maintaining safety protocols. This conflict provides uncertainty for many individuals and companies. Let’s look at Taiwan.

Taiwan reported 498 new cases and seven deaths since the beginning of the year. These numbers are negligible when looking at their twenty million person population. Inbound and outbound international travel is restricted, but domestic travel continues. Taiwanese companies posted positive results compared to last year as manufacturing and exports increase.

Taiwanese printed circuit manufacturers shipped NT$56.85 billion worth of product during July. This is an increase of 9.5% compared with previous month, and 1.7% more than the same month last year. The growth rates are not record breaking, but they are positive. Rigid board manufacturers performed better than flexible circuit manufacturers during the first half of the year. Flex circuit manufacturers started the year off slowly, but shipments increased due to a ramp up in inventory for the Christmas season. Third quarter results are predicted to show a small uptick, but forecasts remain positive for second half growth. Apple sales are critical for manufacturers to remain in the green.

Many employees continue to work from home and work from home products is on the rise. They include telecommunication systems, personal computers and related equipment such as desk top monitors and additional memory. Taiwan is the largest supplier of IT devices in the world, and Taiwanese PCB manufactures received additional orders for multilayer boards during the first half of year.

Many are predicting the work from home model to continue for a while, so demand for PCs and related devices will be strong.

A few of my business associated in Taiwan are very optimistic for a vaccine and a strong rebound in business. Total shipments from circuit board manufacturers grew 3.5% for the first seven months year over year and forecasts show a continued growth for Taiwanese manufacturers during the last five months of the year.

Dominique K. Numakura, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DKN Research, dknresearch.com

DKN Research Newsletter #2024, September 13th, 2020 (English Edition)(Micro Electronics & Packaging)

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Headlines of the Week

1. Kyushu University and Nissan Chemical codeveloped a polymer optical transducer with high speed up to 100Gb/s.

2. Toshiba Device & Storage (Major device supplier in Japan) rolled out a series of small size photo relays with an SMT area of 2.0 x 1.45mm, and height of 1.3mm.

3. Panasonic (Major electronics company in Japan) completed the sale of its semiconductor business to Nuvoton Technology, a subsidiary of Winbord Electronics in Taiwan.

4. Toyota and Honda will start field tests of fuel cell buses as the portable power supplier for the power outage areas caused by natural disasters. The capacity is ten times larger compared with typical EV.

5. Fuji Keizai (Market research firm in Japan) released a report about global semiconductor material market. The total revenue in 2024 will be $40.5 billion in 2024, 23% growth from 2019.

6. Ushio (Lighting device manufacturer in Japan) successfully made coronavirus non-active by 30 seconds irradiation of 222nm ultraviolet.

7. Mitsubishi Electric (Major electric & electronics company in Japan) developed a semiconductor laser device “ML770B64” with metallic can package for 100Gb/s telecommunication.

8. Renesus Electronics (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan) rolled out a wireless charger IC “P9415-R” for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

9. Asahi Kasei Electronics (Device manufacturer in Japan) rolled out a voltage detection ICS “AP4405AEN Series”. Voltage controller, control logic, MOSFET, etc. were built in one chip. It consumes small current down to 10nA.

10. Koki HD (Power tool manufacturer in Japan) rolled out a codeless band saw “CB 3612DA” with lithium ion battery. It works 6 times faster compared with the old model.

11. Sumitomo Electric (Major Cable manufacturer in Japan) developed a manufacturing process for fluororesin base flex circuits for 5G telecommunication devices. They have smaller loss than LPC resin base circuits.

12. Nippon Koei (Major consulting firm of construction industry in Japan) codeveloped with STORNETIC, a German company, the Fly Wheel type energy storage device “Flystab”. Capacity: 3.6 kWh per unit.

13. Kaneka's (Major material supplier in Japan) newly developed photovoltaic cell based on multi-crystal silicon was certified by Toyota as the roof power source of “e-Patette”, new model of the auto-drive EV.

14. On-Semiconductor (Semiconductor manufacturer in the U.S.) is considering selling its manufacturing plant in Niigata, Japan. The company is looking for a capable company to continue the supply for the current customers.

15. JEITA (Industry organization in Japan) unveiled the 2019 version of the roadmap for the printed circuit industry in Japan. Semiconductor package will lead the technology of fine lines.

16. Kawasaki Heavy Industry (Major heavy equipment supplier in Japan) started field testing of all plastic secondary battery based on the next generation lithium ion battery technology designed for unmanned submarines.

17. Molex Japan (Major connector supplier in Japan) unveiled a high retention force connector series HRF 7S and HRF 7L with 0.4 mm pitch for SlimStack boards.

18. Tohoku University (Japan) developed a new power generation device. It generates electric power using the temperature difference. It works in dark circumstances at room temperature.

19. Tokyo University (Japan) codeveloped a new high performance organic semiconductor “C10-DNS-VW” for low cost tag and sensor devices.

20. Littel Fuse (Component supplier in the US) rolled out PPTC (Polymer Positive Temperature Coefficient) series “Poly Switch zeptoSMDC Series” in Japan for portable equipment.

21. SMK (Major connector supplier in Japan) rolled out a connector series “RB-1 Series” for the BtoB connections of 5G antenna boards. Pitch: 0.35 mm, Height: 0.6 mm. Capable up to 12 GHz.

22. TSMC (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan) developed the N4 manufacturing process as the post N5 process. The company plans the production in 2021 and volume production in 2022.

23. JDL (Major display supplier in Japan) agreed to sell the company and manufacturing facilities to Apple and Sharp, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision in Taiwan.