Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) has installed about 60,000 robots on its global production lines as part of its efforts to use automation to improve efficiency.
Hon Hai executive vice president Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) on Tuesday said that the 60,000 robots have helped speed up the establishment of “smart” factories at a time when the global industry is moving toward “industry 4.0,” which aims to incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT) and expand automation.
The world’s largest contract electronics maker has a broad production base in China, employing about 1 million workers. It plans to set up 10 to 12 plants in India by 2020 and is also planning to invest in the US.
Speaking at Computex Taipei, Lu said that the robots have allowed Hon Hai to utilize five “lights-out” factories that are fully automated and require no onsite human presence.
Hon Hai, one of the Taiwanese companies that have been prioritizing automation, has been moving aggressively to lower its operating costs at its Chinese factories as wages in China continue to rise.
With the development of “smart” factories, manufacturers would be able to upgrade their core technology and global competitiveness, which in turn would help boost production output, Lu said.
Hon Hai is also focused on cloud-based networks, big-data processing, the 5G network, 8K high-definition images, huge data storage capacity and high power computing systems, he said.
When 5G technology is commercialized globally by 2020, the Internet will connect about 7 billion people worldwide, with 70 percent of the population using smartphones and 46 percent of devices connected through machine-to-machine functions, he said.
By 2025, the global economic value resulting from such developments will be US$11 trillion higher, of which US$3.7 trillion will be contributed by IoT-related industries, Ku said.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in