Taiwan digital camera makers Ability Enterprise, Altek to extend CCM business

Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Monday 28 January 2008]

Ability Enterprise and Altek, two of the top four Taiwan-based makers of digital cameras, shipped seven million and 4-5 million CCMs (compact camera modules), respectively, in 2007 and are poised to produce camera modules for other applications besides handsets, according to the two companies.

Ability Enterprise landed orders for CCMs from Sony Ericsson, LG Electronics and other international handset vendors and expects to ship 15-18 million CCMs in 2008, the company indicated. While most of its CCMs delivered in 2007 were of 1.3-megapixel resolution, Ability Enterprise has obtained certification for its 2-megapixel and 3-megapixel models from potential clients, the company pointed out. In addition to CCMs, Ability Enterprise has applied its digital camera technology to developing camera modules for use in notebook PCs, monitors and other devices, the company emphasized.

Altek currently ships CCMs to second-tier and white-box vendors of handsets in China and is developing camera modules for use in automobiles through cooperation with the Taiwan-based Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center and High Tech Computer (HTC), with shipments to begin in the second half of 2008, the company pointed out. Altek and Hua-chuang are affiliates of the Yulon Motor Group.

Largan Precision, Foxconn and Lite-On Technology are currently the top three Taiwan-based makers of CCMs, according to industry sources.

Sony Ericsson reportedly outsources production of new handsets to Taiwan-based makers

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 28 January 2008]

Sony Ericsson is outsourcing the production of its four newly released entry-level handsets to two Taiwan OEMs – Arima Communications and Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) – with total shipments from the two makers expected to reach 15-18 million units in 2008, according to sources in Taiwan’s handset industry.

Arima will handle the production of Sony Ericsson’s T270, T280 as well as R300 Radio, whereas CMCS will manufacture the R306 Radio, the sources noted. Sony Ericsson has announced that the T270 and T280 will be available in the first quarter of this year, followed by the R300 in the second quarter and the R306 in the third quarter.

Including the T270, 280, R300 and R306, Sony Ericsson is expected to launch a total of 5-6 entry-level handsets targeting emerging markets in 2008 with the company likely to outsource 1-2 more models to Arima and an additional model to CMCS during the year, the sources indicated.

Sony Ericsson purchased about 8.5 million handsets from Taiwan-based OEMs in 2007, according to an estimate of market sources.

TFN sells 3% stakes in TWM to Fubon Financial and foreign investors

Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 29 January 2008]

Taiwan Mobile (TWM), the second or third largest operator of mobile communication services in Taiwan, on January 28 announced its subsidiary Taiwan Fixed Network (TFN) sold 300 million shares of TWM’s common stock, equivalent to a stake ratio of about 3%, to Fubon Financial Holding, and another 300 million shares to QFIIs (qualified foreign institutional investors) at NT$45.2 (US$1.4) per share.

The brothers Daniel Tsai and Richard Tsai, respectively the chairman and a director of Fubon Financial, were the actual buyers on behalf of the holding company, according to sources at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE). Fubon Financial is an enterprise mainly owned and operated by the Tsai family.

Richard Tsai is currently the chairman of TWM while Daniel Tsai is his predecessor, the sources indicated. The Tsai brothers’ acquisition has increased Fubon Financial’s stake in TWM to nearly 25%, which should help to reinforce the holding company’s rights to operate TWM, the sources analyzed.

After the deal, the stake in TWM held by TFN and its subsidiary together decreased to 21.4%, equivalent to TWM’s treasury stock, the sources noted.

Although TWM declined to indicate how many QFIIs purchased the 300 million shares or who they are, stock experts guessed Goldman Sachs should be either the sole or one of only a few investors, according to reports from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) and Commercial Times.

E-Ten to showcase mobile TV-supporting PDA phone at GSMA congress

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 29 January 2008]

E-Ten Information Systems will showcase its forthcoming mobile TV-supporting PDA phone, the Glofiish V900, at the GSM Association’s Mobile World Congress from February 11-14, 2008 in Barcelona, according to company chairman Hwang Shan-rong.

The V900, which is powered by a Samsung Electronics 667MHz processor and Windows Mobile 6, supports the reception of DVB-H, DVB-T, T-DMB and DAB broadcasts, said Hwang, noting that the device also supports 3.5G and features a 3.2-megapixel camera.

However, Hwang declined to specify a timetable for the availability of the V900.

Including the V900, E-Ten plans to launch six new handsets in 2008, with half supporting 3.5G technology and another half supporting the 2.5G standard, Hwang noted.

In other news, E-Ten saw its after-tax profits grow 61% on year to NT$646 million (US$20 million), or NT$4.02 per share, in 2007.

HTC share of Windows Mobile smartphone segment declining

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 29 January 2008]

High Tech Computer (HTC) has lost the title as the global top ranking vendor of Windows Mobile-based smartphones (excluding touch-screen models), with its share of the segment falling to below 30% currently, trailing behind Motorola and Samsung Electronics, according to internal data from Microsoft.

Motorola, Samsung and HTC have been competing fiercely in the segment with each vendor accounting for a 20-30% share globally, with Motorola now leading the contest with a small margin, the data showed.

Previous data indicated that HTC topped the segment with a market share of over 50% in Microsoft’s fiscal 2007 (from July 2006-June 2007).

However, HTC still retained the number one title in the Windows Mobile-based PDA phone segment, accounting for nearly a 50% share, according to the same data.

Palm was ranked second in the Windows Mobile PDA phone segment with a market share of over 10%, followed by Samsung and Asustek Computer with each accounting for less than a 10% share, the data indicated.

HTC is expected to see its share in the Windows Mobile PDA phone segment continue to erode since a number of vendors, including Motorola, Samsung, LG Electronics, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Palm, Asustek, E-Ten Information System and Gigabyte Communications, are all planning to launch touch-screen PDA phones, according to sources in Taiwan’s handset industry.

Largan: 3-megapixel camera phones to be mainstream in 2009

Siu Han, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 23 January 2008]

In 2008, 2-megapixel camera pones will continue as the mainstream while shipments of 3-megapixel-based products will not see any obvious increase until the end of the year, according to Scott Lin, chairman, Largan Precision. However, 3-megapixel will become the mainstream resolution in 2009.

With 2-megapixel camera modules enjoying a lot of improvement in terms of yields, Lin expects the reduced manufacturing costs to help reduce ASPs (average selling prices) for camera phones.

As for features such as automatic and optical zoom, many industry players are developing related technologies while Largan completed its design in 2007, Lin pointed out. However, with optical zoom causing the size of a handset to increase, such models are currently not selling well in markets such as Japan, noted Lin. The industry therefore needs to invest more to solve the size issue, Lin stated.

HwaCom-Asustek team lands 270,000 STB orders from CHT

Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 23 January 2008]

HwaCom System, a provider of system integration services in Taiwan, together with its hardware partner Asustek Computer has won an open tender for the supply of 270,000 set-top boxes (STBs) and related servers to Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), according to sources at HwaCom and CHT.

The deal is worth NT$941 million (US$30 million), with the unit price of the STBs hovering at around NT$3,300, said sources at HwaCom.

The HwaCom-Asustek deal is part of a total of 450,000 STBs that CHT plans to purchase to support its MOD (multimedia on demand) services. As a result, CHT is likely to hold a new round of bidding for the purchase of the remaining 180,000 STBs, according to market sources.

Aurora Systems announces entry into mobile projection market

Press release, January 23; Emily Chuang, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 23 January 2008]

Aurora Systems, a US-based manufacturer of liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) chip solutions, recently announced the introduction of a new line of LCOS products designed for mobile projection applications. Designed to meet challenging size, power and image requirements, these products are ideally suited for embedding in cellular phones and other converged devices.

The inaugural Lazr Imagr is a single panel color field sequential device with VGA resolution. The active array of the imager has a 4.5mm diagonal on a die size of only 5.2×7.5mm. Patented image processing and fast response liquid crystal combine to provide 24-bit image quality at relatively low bandwidth. The product is designed to drive both VGA and SVGA resolution panels. Proprietary advances in image processing enable memory to be embedded in the driver chip to limit total chipset power consumption.

Aurora will continue to offer three panel solutions for home theater projection systems. The latest single panel, color field sequential devices enables Aurora to offer a liquid crystal on silicon platform from single panel devices for mobile viewing to high resolution, three panel devices for high definition home theater applications.

Kinpo Group counts on printers, STBs, handsets and HD storage devices to drive revenues growth in 2008

Irene Chen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 23 January 2008]

Taiwan-based Kinpo Group, which is composed of Kinpo Electronics, Cal-Comp Electronics and AcBel Polytech, is set to see its revenues grow 30% on year in 2008 and beyond, buoyed by increasing shipments of its major product lines, including printers, set-top boxes (STBs), handsets, hard disk storage devices and Bluetooth products, according to top executives of the group.

The group projects its printer shipments to top 20 million units in 2008, up from the 18 million units shipped in 2007, whereas its shipments of STBs are expected to reach 6.5-7 million units this year compared to 3.5 million units in 2007, said the group’s CEO Hsiao-chin Chiang.

In addition, the group has landed a large-volume order for HD storage devices from a client in the US, with the orders to contribute significantly to the group’s revenues growth in 2008, Chiang said.

The group will also venture into the production of industrial PC systems in 2008 with plans to build up its design and development capability for IPC production through the acquisition of existing IPC makers, Chiang stated.

The Kinpo Group as a whole posted revenues of NT$164 billion (US$5.05 billion) in 2007, up 23.5% from the previous year, according to company data.

BandRich to begin volume production of 3.5G routers in April

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2008]

BandRich, a network-equipment subsidiary of High Tech Computer (HTC), will begin volume production of its 3.5G routers in April this year, according to company CEO Wen-yi Kuo.

The 3.5G router came about after the company successful launched 3.5G HSDPA data cards and 3.5G USB dongles, said Kuo, who also noted that the 3/3.5G data card is still a market niche product with global demand likely to reach several million units a year.

The company also plans to launch 3.5G network testing tools in the near future, Kuo noted. Currently, the market for 3.5G network testing tools is dominated by leading players such Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens Networks, according to market sources.