Advantech Co (研華) yesterday previewed its vision for an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market, which it said would gradually take shape in the next five to 10 years and add value to the company’s hardware offerings
The world’s largest industrial computer supplier aims to sow the seeds for the IIoT market through a “cocreation” model, making early bets on developers of intelligent solutions that would be powered by its cloud computing platform, Advantech chairman K.C. Liu (劉克振) said.
IIoT applications would become widely implemented across a multitude of industries and Advantech is working closely with industry professionals to integrate their knowledge with the coming technology shift and create solution-ready packages (SRPs), Liu said at a news conference at the company’s IoT Campus in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
Eventually, the SRPs would become an important aspect of the IIoT supply chain, along with sensors, edge computing, communications, and platform as a service (PaaS) and other cloud-based services.
Edge computing is a method of optimizing cloud computing by having some computation performed at the device level, whereas PaaS involves providing companies with the cloud infrastructure necessary to build and maintain applications.
However, the IIoT space is fragmented, and the company is working hard to create standardized and easily duplicated SRPs based on a combination of software and hardware products that could be rolled out by system integrators, Liu said.
Advantech showcased nine SRP partners that are developing intelligent solutions for managing hospital wards, vehicle fleets, factory equipment and other facilities.
The company in March approved plans to acquire a 19 percent stake in Nippon RAD Inc to help it become a leading system integrator in the vast Japanese market, Liu added.
Advantech has been offering its WISE PaaS service, a new cloud-enabled platform, at a very accessible price for its development partners during the growth stage, he said.
The company has also scaled down its venture capital activities to focus on investing in its development partners and acquiring stakes of 20 to 30 percent in like-minded IIoT start-ups and partners, Liu said.
“We expect US$500 million in overall incremental revenue gains by 2023,” Liu said, adding that the smart factory, or Industry 4.0, and smart city solutions segments would see the fastest IIoT deployment.
Liu envisions that the IIoT market would be divided into two segments: Half of the potential revenues would be controlled by hardware and software platform providers such as Advantech, while the other half would represented by SRP providers, he said.
The scheme would add value to Advantech’s hardware offerings, similar to how iPhones garnered popularity through Apple’s software and services, he said.
“We supply the beef to supply the steakhouses that would be opened up by our SRP partners,” Liu added.
Meanwhile, the company said it would be ready to unveil 30 SRPs at its IoT Co-Creation Summit which is scheduled for November in Suzhou, China.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS