Communications device maker Alpha Networks Inc (明泰科技) yesterday said that it is developing cloud-radio access network (C-RAN) small-cell base stations and new 5G solutions to vie for a share of the promising 5G market.
“In the future, we can put small-cell base stations combined with C-RAN at a pop music concert, which would deliver faster speeds than current systems as it is so close to users, who would be able to check everything online, such as the singers’ information,” Alpha Networks chairman John Lee (李中旺) said at a seminar in Taipei.
C-RAN — which is low-latency, reuses infrastructure and reduces energy consumption — has been proposed as a solution to meet the service requirements of 5G wireless communications systems, the company said.
Alpha Networks has tested its C-RAN devices in use cases involving healthcare, tourism and security, including in police cars and fire trucks overseas, which provided police officers and firefighters with faster and better wireless communications, Lee said.
“5G is the new driving force in the informations and communications industry, but it can be applied to every industry, such as entertainment, smart cities and autonomous cars,” Lee said.
While the international standards for 5G will not be completed until next year, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) executive vice president Lin Kuo-feng (林國豐) said that the carrier would continue exploring the best solution to provide steady profits.
“Carriers cannot rely on telecommunications revenue anymore, as that business has bubbled, with smartphones enabling users to talk freely,” Lin said, adding that Chunghwa Telecom hopes to find new business through 5G.
The output value of the nation’s communications industry might reach NT$3.4 trillion (US$110 billion) this year, an annual increase of 6.2 percent, and grow an additional 2.5 percent to NT$3.5 trillion next year, Taiwan Stock Exchange president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) said at the seminar, citing Institute for Information Industry data.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day