Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is exploring new business opportunities in technologies related to low Earth orbit (LEO) and smart car connectivity, the company said yesterday.
Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) last week said that an LEO satellite from Hon Hai might be seen in the sky next year, as the company aims to create more value and higher returns for its shareholders, while the firm told yesterday’s forum that Microelectronics Technology Inc (台揚科技), a 5G equipment and satellite component supplier that it fully owns via its subsidiaries, has tapped into the LEO satellite receiver market.
At the NExT Forum, organized by the Hon Hai Research Institute (鴻海研究院), industry experts discussed the development of 5G and 6G (B5G) technologies, as well as opportunities that lie beyond, focusing on LEO supply chains and their link to the fulfillment of autonomous vehicles.
Photo: CNA
Numerous applications rely on having full coverage of B5G, LEO and low-latency networks with high-reliability design, research institute chairman Wu Jen-ming (吳仁銘) said.
National Space Organization Director-General Wu Jong-shine (吳宗信) said that a large-scale company such as Hon Hai should tap into space travel and space colonies, adding that such businesses would drive growth over the next 20 to 30 years.
To meet growing demand for full Internet coverage, especially in rural areas, existing 5G networks can be integrated with 6G technology or LEO satellite technology, Wu said.
There are four LEO satellite projects globally: SpaceX’s Starlink, the UK and India’s Oneweb, Amazon.com Inc’s Project Kuiper and Canada’s Telesat, he said.
By the end of the year, Starlink is to take the lead with 3,400 satellites launched, he said.
Some local networking companies and precision machinery companies have joined Starlink’s supply chain, supplying ground equipment for satellites, he added.
Wu said he is upbeat about business opportunities related to LEO satellites, as there are expected to be 50,000 satellites in the sky by 2030, with 77.5 percent of them being LEO satellites.
The ground equipment segment in 2020 comprised a significant portion of the global space economy, contributing US$135.3 billion, data compiled by Bryce Space and Technology and Euroconsult showed.
The global space economy is expected to expand to US$1 trillion by 2040 from US$371 billion in 2020, Wu said.
The satellite industry accounted for 74 percent of the global space economy in 2020, he said, citing data from Bryce Space and Technology and Euroconsult.
The research institute, which was established in January last year, directs the exploration of next-generation telecommunications and semiconductor technologies. It has focused on 5G-related technologies, satellite payload technologies and the ability to deploy satellite receiving stations.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six