Daily Archives: July 16, 2021

Shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) have climbed 59% over the last year,but one analyst still sees significant upside.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann has a buy rating on the stock, with a $165 price target.That's 109% above the current quote. Mosesmann's stock ratings have a 71% success rate, according to TipRanks, so his calls are worth digging into.

Let's see what's driving Micron's business to determine whether the stock is worth buying today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Micron is one of the leading manufacturers of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products used in consumer PCs and mobile devices. Its products are increasingly being used in cloud servers, industrial, and other enterprise applications. DRAM makes up nearly three-quarters of Micron's total revenue.Micron is also a leading supplier of the non-volatile, rewriteable (NAND) storage products used in solid-state drives (SSDs), which make up 24% of the business.

Micron reported record revenue in the fiscal third quarter, with its top line advancing 36% year over year to $7.4 billion. But the key to Micron's business performance is pricing. It's operating in a nichewhere only a few manufacturers, most notably Samsung Electronicsand SK Hynix,compete to meet the demand in the marketplace. Thiscan sometimes cause swings in pricing when too much supply becomes available, and this situation can pressure profits.

Micron is currently experiencing an upswing in selling prices, however. In the recent quarter, Micron's gross margin improved significantly year over year, jumping nearly 10 percentage points to 42.1%. This is a result of DRAM average selling prices increasing by 20% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting a strong demand environment.

During the fiscal Q3 earnings call, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra provided more insights on Micron's near-term outlook for the supply and demand situation. Mehrotra cited "strong demand across almost all end markets," including PC, data center, smartphone, and 5G. Mehrotra said that Micron can't meet current demand in automotive, and also pointed to strong demand in industrial markets.

The semiconductor shortage is causing demand to exceed supply right now, and this could last into calendar year 2022.But even when the supply shortage is eventually resolved, that will push demand up even further, as Mehrotra explained.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, Micron expects revenue to increase sequentially to approximately $8.2 billion, with gross margin reaching 47%, plus or minus 1%. Management didn't provide guidance beyond the next quarter, but it expects pricing to remain tight into calendar year 2022. All of this points to rising demand and improving profitability for Micron's business.

MU data by YCharts.

The consensus analyst estimate has Micron's gross margin improving from 39% in fiscal 2021 to 50% next year.Based on analyst estimates, this would translate to earnings per share of $5.93 in fiscal 2021, with a significant jump to $11.36 in fiscal 2022.

For Micron's stock price to reach $165, it would have to trade at 14.5 times next year's earnings estimate. That's not asking too much when the stock currently sells for a modest 13.2 times the consensus estimate for fiscal 2021 earnings.

It's also important to know that Micron has met or exceeded the consensus earnings estimate for 12 straight quarters. Plus analyst estimates have been rising recently for revenue and earnings looking out to fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023.This could mean that investors are still underestimating the strength of the demand trends for Micron's products.

Keep in mind that Micron has been a volatile stock in the past, but the company has delivered profitable growth, even if it has been lumpy. The stock has delivered a 950% return over the last 10 years, but given the swings in memory pricing that often occur, this is one stock you want to get right when you buy shares.

Given management's outlook that supply will remain tight into next year, the secular demand trends in 5G wireless and cloud servers, and the stock's low valuation, the chances are good that investors could double their money with this tech stock.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Is Micron Technology Stock Headed to $165 a Share? - The Motley Fool

Huawei continues its 20th-anniversary celebrations in Singapore by launching into a new era of cloud technology and strengthening partnerships to build smart cities of the future

SINGAPORE, July 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global leading ICT provider Huawei today hosted the HUAWEI CLOUD Summit 2021 in Singapore. Themed 'Born in Cloud, Grow with Cloud', the hybrid event brought together industry leaders, including SMEs and large corporates responsible for cloud migration strategies, to explore how evolving cloud technologies impact and strengthen digital transformation across sectors.

Together with Singapore Animators Connection (SAC), iQiyi, Orange Business Services, SP Digital and more, Huawei discussed how cloud technology plays a versatile and growing role in the animation, streaming, and energy technology sectors.

Continued Cloud Commitment in Singapore

During his opening speech, Mr Foo Fang Yong, CEO of Huawei International, recognised Singapore's leading position in ICT infrastructure and technology in the region, noting that Huawei has supported Singapore's digitalisation journey since 2001.

Partnering with industry leaders and customers, Huawei is now a pivotal contributor to connectivity, green energy, storage and many more innovative digital solutions across diversified industry sectors, aligned to Singapore's Smart Nation goals.

Mr Foo Fang Yong stated at the Summit, "As we celebrate our 20th anniversary in Singapore, Huawei is committed to providing reliable, secure, and cost-effective cloud services to empower applications, harness the power of data, and help organizations of all sizes grow in Singapore and ASEAN region, we aim to be the mainstream cloud vendor and digital transformation leader in Singapore."

Singapore is the international hub of HUAWEI CLOUD, which houses four availability zones, with a fifth availability zone on the way. Beyond Singapore, HUAWEI CLOUD also has setup regions in Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia, with Indonesia to follow.

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"Huawei has been committed to empowering digital transformation and innovation, nurturing a future-ready talent pool and driving sustainable growth for the future economy together with our local partners. It is our responsibility, not only as a global ICT leader but also a committed member of the community, to continue to create economic opportunities and societal impact in Singapore," announced Fang Yong.

Born in Cloud, Grow with Cloud

According to the Gartner report Market Share: IT Services, Worldwide 2020, HUAWEI's 2020 IaaS market share ranks No.2 in China, No. 3 in Thailand market, No.4 in the emerging Asia Pacific market, and No. 5 in the global market. HUAWEI's IaaS revenue grew fastest in the global market between 2019 and 2020, compared to the other vendors included for analysis.

During the event, Mr Zeng Xingyun, President of HUAWEI CLOUD APAC, highlighted five key strategies behind Huawei Cloud's rapid growth to continuously focus on ICT investment, boost product architecture innovation, support technology and solution innovation, introduce cloud-cloud synergy, and inherit and build the most optimal 2B service.

Redefining Infrastructure with HUAWEI CLOUD

HUAWEI CLOUD aims to revolutionise enterprise infrastructure through improved services, platforms, and solutions.

Cloud Container Engine (CCE) Clusters allow for accelerated computing, networking, and scheduling for more efficient applications, smoother and more secure communications, and the ability to allocate the required resources for applications without micro-management.

Multi-Cloud Container Platform (MCP) brings cross-cloud applications into your routine as though they were local applications. Its compatibility with Kubernetes native APIs eliminates the need for refactoring, granting enterprise users the ability to govern instances on a larger scale, and boasting synergy with other networks on the cloud.

GaussDB sees the company's cloud-native database solutions come to the financial sector, where users can tap on high performance and elastic scaling for hybrid loads, increased security and availability, and intelligent optimisation and index recommendation.

Extending Cloud Support to the Start-up Ecosystem in the Region

As part of the global shift towards a cloud-powered future and in recognition of the growth of start-ups and small businesses in ASEAN, Huawei will host the second edition of the Huawei Spark programme for the region.

A hybrid accelerator programme, Huawei Spark targets deep tech start-ups in e-Commerce, Fintech, Energy, Manufacturing, and Smart City industries with focuses on AI, IoT, SaaS, Edge Computing, and 5G. With its strong network of industry experts, Huawei aims to incubate and accelerate start-ups' growth to further build a more connected and intelligent world.

To apply for the Huawei Spark programme, interested start-ups can submit their proposals here before 10 August 2021 and register here to join the Spark Founder Summit on 3 Aug.

About HUAWEI CLOUD

HUAWEI CLOUD is a leading cloud service provider, which brings Huawei's 30-plus years of expertise together in ICT infrastructure products and solutions. We are committed to providing reliable, secure, and cost-effective cloud services to empower applications, harness the power of data, and help organizations of all sizes grow in today's intelligent world. HUAWEI CLOUD is also committed to bringing affordable, effective, and reliable cloud and AI services through technological innovation.

For more information, please visit Huawei online at https://www.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/about/index.html or follow us on:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/huaweicloudapac/ https://twitter.com/HuaweiCloudAPAC https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiCloudAPAChttps://www.youtube.com/c/HuaweiCloudAIAPAC

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Embracing the Potential of Cloud Technology with Ecosystem Partners at the HUAWEI CLOUD Summit 2021 - Yahoo Finance

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cormetech has been selected for an award from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to increase the amount of CO2 captured in Direct Air Capture (DAC) operations. Cormetech plans to further develop its DAC contactor. The contactor is the engine of the DAC system. Air is moved through the contactor and CO2 is selectively adsorbed onto it. The improved contactor will maximize the amount of CO2 captured from the atmosphere, while reducing the amount of energy needed to operate.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-12-million-direct-air-capture-technology

From the DOE funding announcement (06/15/2021):

Across the U.S., in states like Arizona and North Carolina, brilliant innovators are developing Direct Air Capture technologies that can extract carbon dioxide straight out of the air. said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. These DOE investments, and the ones we will make with President Bidens American Jobs Plan, are crucial to advancing technology that will help us avoid the worst effects of climate change and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.'

Cormetechs CEO Mike Mattes commented Cormetech is very excited about this award, which will allow us to continue developing CO2 Capture technology with amine-based adsorbers in Direct Air Capture systems. With Cormetechs long history of technology leadership in emission controls, we have demonstrated the technical feasibility of capturing CO2 directly from the air with our adsorbers, and this award will allow us to accelerate the development and improve the CO2 capture rates.

To learn more about this project and Cormetechs technologies please reach out to sales@cormetech.com or call us at 1-704-827-8933.

CORMETECH, Inc. is a world leader in manufacturing of high-quality environmental catalysts, providing SCR catalyst regeneration and engineering services for the power, marine, industrial-process, refinery, and petrochemical markets. The company has leveraged more than 30 years of field experience and ceramic extrusion technology to create innovative catalyst products and services that meet our customers' needs in the United States and abroad.

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Cormetech Selected for a DOE Award to Demonstrate Technology to Increase the Amount of CO2 Captured in DAC Operations - Business Wire

Photovoltaic technology has been the clear winner of the solar energy race. Can concentrated solar power catch up?

One company seems to think it could be possible. Heliogen, a concentrated solar power company with backing from Bill Gates, announced last week that it will merge with a special-purpose acquisition company in a deal that values the company at an enterprise value of about $2 billion.

At first glance, the deal looks like a head-scratcher. Photovoltaic technology, which uses panels to convert light directly into electricity, is miles ahead of CSP, which uses mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight into very high heat, which is then used to produce steam, electricity or hydrogen. The heat is often stored in a medium that is unlikely to cool off quickly, such as molten salt or rocks (in the case of Heliogen). PV is cheaper, takes up less space and has generally had fewer performance issues. As of 2019, there was just 6.9 Gigawatts of CSP capacity globally, which was roughly 1% of total installed solar capacity, according to data from BloombergNEF, which has since stopped publishing regular updates on the sector because there is little to report on.

CSPs built-in storage capacity was once seen as a promising solution to the intermittence that plagues renewable energy. But the technology has been tough to master and cost is still a large hurdle. Back in 2008, both PV and CSP had a levelized cost of electricity around $450 per megawatt-hour, according to Pietro Radoia, senior analyst at BloombergNEF. Today, PV solar can be as cheap as $29 per MWh without subsidies, while the cheapest CSP solar with storage is more than four times as expensive, according to Lazards analysis from 2020. In a 2019 report, BloombergNEF concluded that in the long term, PV paired with batteries is likely to be only slightly more expensive and much less risky compared with PV paired with CSP systems.

Heliogen costs less than $50 per MWh including the federal investment tax credit, according to its investor deck, which would make it more expensive than unsubsidized utility-scale PV solar but cheaper than industrial-scale PV solar without subsidies. One of the key differences compared to existing CSP technology, according to Bill Gross, Heliogens founder and chief executive, is that the company uses cameras on towers to monitor mirrors in real time, with data crunched at 30 frames a second to make sure each mirrors reflection is hitting the target correctly. That in turn allows the system to generate heat exceeding 1,000 Celsius, which in turn is enough to heatand ultimately store energy inrocks. Rocks are cheaper than molten salt and also dont come with the risk of leakage. The companys bet is that its technology will get even better over time so that the cost declines will also come from having to use less material per mirror. Any scarce commodity goes up in price. [The price of] computation only ever goes down, he said.

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Less-Loved Solar Technology Gets Moment in the Sun - The Wall Street Journal

$85 Million financing used to expand robust real-world data networks for improving research and precision medicine.

OM1 partners with providers, medical societies, payers, and manufacturers to harness real-world data for advancing medical research, evaluating health outcomes, obtaining regulatory approvals, and personalizing treatment in chronic disease areas, such as dermatology, rheumatology, cardiology, gastroenterology, respiratory, neurosciences, and behavioral health. In addition to these efforts, OM1 develops state-of-the art artificial intelligence (AI) models and solutions for finding patients and predicting outcomes.

"There has been limited focus on using real-world data for autoimmune and other chronic conditions despite those conditions representing more than $1.6 trillion in healthcare costs in the U.S alone," said Dr. Richard Gliklich, CEO and founder of OM1. "With this funding, OM1 will expand our work building robust real-world data networks that are changing the research paradigm and enabling more precise treatments."

Increasingly healthcare stakeholders, including regulators, payers, and providers, are seeking real-world evidence for supporting outcomes-based decision making. By organizing health information and applying AI technology, OM1 helps customers generate and use real-world evidence more rapidly and effectively to gain regulatory approval, to understand the effectiveness, safety and value of treatments, and to personalize care.

Daniel Sundheim, founder of D1 Capital Partners, noted, "We believe OM1 is at the forefront of innovation in applying real-world data and AI in impactful ways. We are excited to support their mission as they continue to expand their products in pursuit of improving patient outcomes."

OM1 was founded in 2015 by the leadership team of Outcome Sciences, the pioneering real-world research company, which was acquired in 2011.

For more information, visitwww.om1.com.

Contact

Renee HurleyHead of Marketing, OM1617-620-9571[emailprotected]

About OM1

With a focus on chronic conditions, OM1 is a real-world data, outcomes and technology company leveraging big clinical data and AI to better understand, compare, and predict patient outcomes. OM1's real-world evidence platform, clinical registries and AI technologies enable clients to accelerate research, to measure and benchmark health outcomes and to personalize patient care. Learn more at http://www.om1.com.

AboutD1CapitalPartnersD1 Capital Partners is a global investment firm that operates across public and private markets. The firmcombines the talent and operational excellence of a large, premier asset management firm with theflexible mandate and long-term time horizon of a family office. Founded in 2018 byDaniel Sundheim, D1focuses on investing in the global internet, technology, telecom, media, consumer, healthcare, financial,industrial,andrealestatesectors.

AboutKaiserPermanenteKaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.4 million members in 8 states and theDistrict of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.

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Real-World Data & Technology Company OM1 Closes $85 Million Financing To Make Healthcare More Measured, Precise, And Pre-Emptive - PRNewswire

AUSTIN (KXAN) Theres an intersection in Austin thats getting some attention for its bad track record.

East 7th Street and Springdale Road are part of Austins High-Injury Network, or roads that make up just 8% of the citys streets but account for nearly 70% of the citys serious injury or deadly crashes.

Im here from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, said Aeliin Martinez.

She works at Rivera Welding six days a week and often witnesses car crashes at the intersection.

There was a guy over here in a motorcycle really, really bad crash, Martinez recalled. He had no helmet on, went through the windshield on someones car. It was very bad.

Martinez said she also worries for the cyclists and pedestrians.

I always get scared when I see them pass by, she said.

The City of Austin is partnering with Velodyne to pilot its lidar sensors. The company said its laser technology creates real-time, 3D maps they said are not possible with other sensors like cameras or radar.

This particular technology would give us the ability to measure a persons gait and, say theyre an elderly person be able to extend that walk time across that intersection, so that person can safely, at their pace, make it across the intersection, explained Jason JonMichael, Austin Transportation Departments assistant director.

And unlike cameras, the lasers track data without taking pictures, which is personally identifiable information the city has to remove from its system afterward.

They also hope to gather more information for possible long-term solutions, like infrastructure or policy in the area.

We want to understand not only how well does the technology work, is it ready? Is it something that we should be looking at how we invest in that? Or make decisions on how were going to plan for that change in our system? JonMichael said.

JonMichaels team said this pilot program will launch once they get the technology, which they hope will be in the coming weeks.

Martinez hopes it will be effective.

Hopefully they do something to change this, because we need change here, she said.

That way, she can be a little less anxious about her own safety as well as that of her coworkers, customers and community.

You never know every time you come to work. Never know if someones going to pass away right here in front of you, she said.

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Austin will use laser technology to help make this dangerous intersection safer - KXAN.com

Fifty civil and immigrant rights groups sent a letter to President Joe BidenJoe BidenJ.D. Scholten: Democratic Party is 'getting blown out of the water' by not connecting to voters Children under 12 could be able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by winter: report Georgia secretary of state calls for Fulton County elections officials to be fired MORE in February asking him to place a moratorium on all federal government use of facial recognition technology and other forms of biometric technology until Congress has authorized its use in specific circumstances with sufficient safeguards.

They claimed, among other things, that the technology disproportionately misidentifies and misclassifies people of color.

The letter refers to a February 2018, study of three commercially available facial recognition programs that found while they had high accuracy rates for lighter-skinned males, there was an error rate of 34.7 percent for darker-skinned females.

This could be a problem when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses facial recognition technology to screen people seeking admission to the United States. Should Biden prohibit CBP from using this technology?

Congressional mandate

Biden cant stop CBP from using biometric technology at the border. CBP has to comply with a congressional mandate to develop and employ a biometric entry/exit system for recording arrivals and departures to and from the United States, but he can stop CBP from using biometric technologies that cant accurately identify dark-skinned people.

CBP spent several years testing various biometric technologies to determine which ones would be suitable for such an entry/exit system in the different environments in which individuals are inspected at air, land, and sea ports. Facial recognition technology was chosen because it is suitable in all of these environments and it can be performed relatively quickly with a high degree of accuracy.

How it works

Facial recognition technology uses computer algorithms to scan and map the distinguishing features of a persons face and then compares the resulting map to maps of pictures in the persons passport, his visa, and in the galleries that CBP maintains.

Galleries include photographs captured by CBP during inspections, from passports and visas, and from other sources, such as the Automated Targeting System, which provides maps of faces in law enforcement and intelligence databases.

CBP has deployed facial recognition technology successfully at air, land, and sea ports

According to CBP, this

CBP is using facial recognition technology at 196airports, including 22 at international locations, and at land borders.

CBP One mobile app

In early May, CBP receivedemergency approvalfrom the Office of Management and Budget to use an app to collect advance information on undocumented individuals coming to a land border.

Through a series of questions, the app guides users to appropriate services based on their particular needs, such as reporting their arrival, completing documents, or making appointments for CBP services. It employs facial recognition technology, geolocation, and cloud technology to collect, process, and store their information before they reach the border.

This streamlines their travel into the United States by providing needed information before or upon their arrival or departure.

It is particularly useful for asylum seekers.

CBP has enlisted international and nongovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations refugee agency, to use the app. The organizations identify asylum seekers in Mexico who were subjected to the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy and submit their biographic and biometric information to CBP through the app.

CBP primarily uses this information to determine whether the asylum seekers will be allowed to enter the United States to pursue their claims.

Asylum seekers and others intending to seek admission to the United States can download the app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to their web-enabled smart devices and create a login.gov account to access CBP services.

Opposition

On June 15, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced bicameral legislation to restrict government use of facial recognition technology: theFacial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2021.

Kate Ruane, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU, supports this bill. She says that the perils of facial recognition technology are very real. The technologys inaccuracy when used against people of color has led to the wrongful arrests of multiple black men.

It makes sense to regulate the use of facial recognition technology, but it would be a mistake to prohibit or even severely restrict its use on account of fear that it wont accurately identify dark-skinned people.

It is not inherently more difficult to identify people of color. Early implementations did not include enough people with diverse characteristics.

Algorithms "learn" to identify distinguishing facial features from being shown millions of pictures of human faces. If the faces used to train the algorithm are predominantly white men, the algorithm will have a harder time matching dark-skinned women and vice versa.

This shouldnt be a problem for CBP.

CBP deals with very large numbers of dark-skinned people. Moreover, CBP continually tests and evaluates the accuracy of its camera technology and its algorithms with assistance from the DHS Science and Technology Directorate and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This does not mean that CBPs facial recognition technology matches are always correct. Perfection is rarely achieved in any endeavor. Nevertheless, facial recognition technology is facilitating the inspection process and providing a fast, non-invasive way for CBP to create the congressionally mandated biometric entry/exit system and there does not appear to be a better way to achieve these objectives.

Nolan Rappaportwas detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Followhis blogathttps://nolanrappaport.blogspot.com.

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Facial recognition technology in immigration: Biden, biometrics and congressional mandate | TheHill - The Hill

The wheel never stopped turning since the time it was invented almost 5,500 years ago. From horse drawn-carriages and steam engines to drone taxis and self-driving cars, mobility has come a long way.

Today, urban mobility is a thriving space with unimaginable potential. How cities move their people is a prominent factor that determines their quality of life and preserves the essence of the urban environment.

Many cities across the world are already leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data analytics to tap into the behavioural patterns of their citizens and harness this intel to power last mile connectivity.

Ride-hailing and vehicle-rental entities have played a significant role in bridging the gap between city dwellers and public transport by introducing shared mobility into the equation.

Here are the key industry and technology trends that will pave the way for this integration:

EVs are driving forth the possibility of mobility with minimal disruption. There were 10 million electric cars on the roads globally in 2020. Though electric car registrations have increased by in the past year, the real silver bullet of sustainable mobility is going to be e-bikes. Thanks to the enhanced lithium-ion batteries, improved performance and affordable prices, the e-bike movement is steadily taking over the world.

Thanks to the FAME II subsidy hike recently announced by the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), Indian e-two-wheeler manufacturers will be able to up their game and get on par with their Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) counterparts in the market.

Though many people are aware of the positive impact of EVs on the environment, they are hesitant to get onboard with battery-powered vehicles due to the lack of charging stations.

But if the cost of renewable energy goes down, intermittent distributed generation will make up a notable share of the world's energy distribution. This will enable cheaper and cleaner energy distribution, allowing EV owners to recharge their vehicles from their local solar or electric charging points.

Shared mobility is not solely restricted to ride-hailing services; vehicle rental apps too play a part in this shift as they enable large client pools to travel around the city using a limited number of rented vehicles.

In the last one decade, global and national brands have quickly picked up pace to help city dwellers move around with ease.

MaaS is a trend that is gaining traction along with the rent-over-buy movement because people are starting to view transportation as an experience and not a luxury.

MaaS can be defined as a system or platform where all transportation is viewed as a single unit. It would incorporate all the current practices of paying for bus/train tickets using a phone or hailing a ride using a rental app into a centralised system.

Micromobility is shaking up urban transportation worldwide. In many populous cities, people are choosing to travel via walking, cycling, or shared mobility to escape congestion on roads. This is where micromobility comes init refers to the small-scale, short-term transportation alternatives people can opt for to move around the city with ease.

VR, on the other hand, can help city planning experts perfect their research and prototyping with the help of interactive design visualisations and life-like simulations.

Sustainable mobility shouldnt be limited to vehicles shifting to alternative energy options alone, it should also extend to the manufacturing process. Additive manufacturing enables the creation of lighter, stronger, and eco-friendly vehicle spare parts. This will not only enable upcoming startups to experiment with low-cost, durable materials but also facilitate rapid prototyping.

Though the mobility and the automotive sectors have been drastically hit by the repercussions of the pandemic, in many other ways, this adversity has helped thought leaders to aggressively innovate and reinvent themselves. In fact, 2020 witnessed a startup surge of 24.3 percent, owing to the existential urgency triggered by all the uncertainty.

In the coming years, urban mobility will only get faster, better, and more versatile, all the while keeping sustainability at the forefront. This is the right time for key players to identify new opportunities and accelerate innovation.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

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Riding the technology: The future of urban mobility is now - YourStory

As the cyclists of the Tour de France pull into Paris, they will have collected not just an array of jerseys, crashes, drama, records and more than 2,000 miles of cycling. They also bring with them a vast array of data, second-by-second accounts of their body in the 21 days of riding their bikes that have come before.

Every pedal stroke is weighed, measured and the watts produced handed back to a cycling computer that will stick each of those measurements together to gather a precise picture of how each leg stroke added up to a successful or failed race. Every heartbeat that pumps the blood to power those strokes is tracked too, watched for how the faintest increase or decrease in speed could indicate an imminent win or loss.

This year, that tracking technology is more detailed and cutting-edge than it has ever been, getting literally under the skin of athletes to understand how their bodies keep ticking. It is sometimes so futuristic that it has actually been banned from the traditional world of the tour, for fear that the tracking could spoil the fun.

It is also more accessible than ever. Just as the advances in bikes themselves trickle down carbon fibre was once the preserve only of the elite pro, but is now the material of choice of the weekend warrior so has other technology, allowing even the lightest hobbyist to gather insight that would have seemed impossible to anyone just years ago.

There is no more visceral example of that than Supersapiens, a company that makes the name wearable seem somewhat quaint. The company makes what it calls a biosensor,

It does all that so well that the UCI, cyclings governing body, has banned the sensors from use in the Tour de France. Early in June, it published a new rule that said that devices that capture physiological data including any metabolic values such as but not limited to glucose or lactate are not authorised in competition.

The decision drew criticism from people including the manager of EF Education-Nippo, Jonathan Vaughters, who wrote on Twitter: On brand. If they cant understan it, they ban it.

(The UCIs rules are often about setting limits on performance, intentionally; it has weight limits that prohibit bikes from being too light, for instance. This year, Specialized released its Aethos bike; it is precisely intended as an experiment in breaking those rules it said it wanted to make a bike that is focused on ride quality and lightness, worrying about whether it could be used in a race making it almost the bike version of Supersapiens dilemma.)

But Southerland notes that the problem is also that the trackers are understood as a danger not to the cyclists but to the fun of the sport: if nutrition is turned into a pure and precise science, it takes away some of the artistry that has led cycling teams to bring their own rockstar chefs and cyclists to practise eating with the same intensity they practise cycling. Having too much information could make cycling boring.

Southerland points to other, similarly precise tracking technologies that could be subject to the same complaint: power metres that measure exactly how hard a cyclist is pedalling, core body temperature sensors that watch for how hot or cold they are. And those same arguments have indeed been made, with current UCI president David Lappartient saying in 2018 that he would back the idea of banning power meters that provide live feedback to cyclists during the race, similarly arguing that it holds back the attractiveness of the sport.

(Last year, previous Tour winner Geraint Thomas accidentally gave that idea a try, when a mixup meant that he went without his Garmin head unit during the World Championships. He came fourth during the time trial, and said that having the data normally keeps you so focused and dialled in.)

There is also an obvious commercial opportunity to keeping the products in the tour: as the cavalcade of advertising around the event shows, having a product featured there is big business. When the power meter ban was floated in 2017, James Shaw noted that If the pros dont ride them, people arent going to buy them, and if the money fell out of the market then the teams probably would too.

But the companies making such precise tracking technology are clear that they believe it can provide value to those watching at home, too. The way theyre used might be vastly different, but the principles remain the same.

This year, for instance, one of the things that has been noticeable about the EF-Education Nippo riders already hard to miss in their hot pink kit is a matching pink band strapped around their wrist. Its a Whoop band, which measures not only how hard they are working but also how hard they are not working.

It does that with the help of an optical heart rate sensor of the kind now offered in just about every sports wearable. (The sensor itself is not especially notable and reviews have suggested that it might not be especially accurate when compared to other rivals but Whoop stresses the value of the platform it has for analysing the data it gives out.)

The data collects information such as resting heart rate, infers a riders respiration from the changes in their heartbeat, and tracks heart rate variability, measuring the tiny differences in the rhythm of each beat as a way of knowing how calm a persons body is. All of that is merged together with information about how hard a cyclist is working, how hydrated they might be, to give what Whoops vice president of performance says is a holistic picture aimed at making them as ready as humanly possible.

And it is just one of many companies pitching those elite technologies to non-elite athletes. Holmes says that while the details of a Tour de France riders activity is going to be different, the principles are much the same; normal people have to balance rest with stress and understand how the two work together best, too.

In the end, were all trying to do the same thing, she says. Were trying to live our values with more joy and more energy, and this is technology that helps facilitate that.

Southerland pitches Supersapiens similarly. It might be obvious how elite athletes can benefit potentially too much from the technology, and also how those living with diabetes can be helped by it, but it has plenty to offer people who dont fall into either camp, too, he says.

The literature and the textbooks would suggest that it is a specialist product, he says. But the companys data doesnt it has found that around 45 per cent of the time, when people exercise for more than an hour, they are doing it without enough fuel.

The problems of that might appear in ways that would be familiar to anyone who has exercised: the feeling of being out of shape, not fit or fast enough to keep up. But really, theyre just under-fuelled, he says so everyone has to improve their fueling strategies.

Supersapiens hopes to provide the data to prove that, showing precisely how an energy gel taken at the right moment can help spur a personal best, or a massive night of tacos and margaritas could hinder one. We give you the data to showcase how important it really is.

There is a danger, of course, that all of this is too much; the sheer level of data that could make cycling boring could also serve as a stress for people who find themselves worrying too much about those numbers. Holmes says that she believes the cost of that does not outweigh the benefit of understanding how your body is actually adapting to your environment, especially when people can control many of the factors that are likely to drive those numbers in the right or wrong direction.

There might also be a concern that all of the data is nice to have but fundamentally redundant; you probably know if you are tired, or havent eaten enough, whether you are testing those things at the Tour de France or just in your normal life. But both Holmes and Southerland stress that the information is not just decorative both companies charge not insubstantial amounts of money for their products o the promise that they will highlight behaviours and their effects in ways you might not realise for yourself.

Like Supersapiens, Whoop is exercise technology that is as much focused on the time you dont spend exercising one of its biggest metrics is the recovery score, tracking those 23 hours a day when you might not be working out. All of those products come at a time when the various bits of the health picture that are not actually about physical activity, such as rest, nutrition and general wellbeing, are being recognised as being at least as important to performance as the actual workout.

As such, much of the data being provided to athletes both elite, Tour de France level cyclists and normal people just trying to be healthier is as much about telling them when not to exercise, and how to do that, as it is about ensuring they do. That data helps inform those efforts, and Holmes notes that its not really todays training session that informs how well youll do tomorrow, but rather the sleep and everything else that goes into the rest of the day.

All of this works together with more traditional tracking and technology, all of which has advanced alongside the more cutting-edge work. This year, for instance, Garmin released its new Rally tracking pedals, allowing people to gather information on the power their legs were putting out even when riding in rough terrain; many wearables including those from Apple and Garmin also monitor blood oxygen, shining lights into the skin to get a picture of how saturated the blood is, using that as a way to understand the effect of altitude as well as possible health problems.

It is all a long way from the spirit of the early Tour, when technology did not even extend to gears and sport science was so primitive that cyclists avoided keeping themselves hydrated because of a sense that they raced better when dry. But it embodies the same commitment to finding and transcending limits that have always characterised elite sport.

The speed and might of the Tour is rivalled by the fast pace of the technology that has helped its riders come to be so quick. It might now be electronic and wearable, but the history of cycling has been won and lost by rapid innovation as much as by rapid legs, and that looks set to continue.

It has often not been for the good; professional cycling has not always shown much care for the well-being of its athletes. Much worse has been done to cyclists blood than monitoring it for glucose; their hearts have been treated with far less care than they are by Whoop; power meters are relatively pedestrian as far as manipulating the performance of cyclists legs goes.

It is almost unusual that the latest technology is focused on making cyclists healthy so they are fast, when in the past it has been almost the opposite; cyclists resting to ensure their sleep metrics is high is a welcome departure from the horror stories of them having to wake up in the middle of the night and cycling for 10 minutes on rollers in their hotel rooms to ensure that their fit and drug-enhanced hearts didnt fail as they slept.

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Tech tracks cyclists better than ever but is it too much? - The Independent

A Jolywood-produced n-type cell on display at SNEC 2021. Image: PV Tech.

The PV industry today has become a China-driven manufacturing sector, with the rest of the world often left to deal with the good and bad associated with one specific country being so dominant from a production standpoint.

Indeed, in looking at upstream investments, the difference only seems to grow each year, somewhat regardless of what is happening with technology trends, pricing levels, profit margins and end-market deployment.

But everything goes in cycles, and this could well extend to the period within the solar industry that has seen annual deployment levels move from 10GW per annum to levels north of 150GW today.

Are we in fact on the verge of a major manufacturing balancing act that will occur as the industry drives towards the terrawatt annual deployment level by 2030?

As PV Tech prepares for the next staging of our flagship event PV CellTech held online again during 25-26 August 2021, the need to understand current state-of-the-art, mainstream PV cell manufacturing has not been so critical in the past decade.

How will the p-type to n-type transition occur? Are the current crop of Chinese cell producers really going to be ones that drive this technology shift? How can western investments into new cell/module fabs justify returns, and how should they strategise to be in a position to lead PV cell technology when the timing is right?

This article previews the session topics for PV CellTech 2021 Online and discusses some of the key questions on PV technology currently being scrutinised by the industry in general, and especially for new cell/module investments on the global stage.

The growth of the solar industry over the past decade has been corporate, institutional investment-led, where the last decimal place on return on investment models has trumped everything else related to the manufacturing of the key components needed to build a solar farm.

The days of power to the people that permeated the industry at the country-level seem a distant memory now; when government incentives targeted homeowner investments (capex). While much of PV deployment then was still based on financial gain, there was a much stronger personal attachment to the installers (domestic, local firms) and which company was supplying the modules.

However, all investment is subject to scrutiny, not just from a financial standpoint, but a moral one. And today, origin of manufacture and sustainability footprints firmly fall into the moral category. While it is easy to join the dots today on the Xinjiang question, this is just one example. It is part of the much bigger picture related to solar being beneficial to local economies, and not at the behest of any one country (such as China is today). In fact, the same logic could be applied to shipping costs, or indeed exchange rate fluctuations. There is an endless list actually of issues that all come back to the industry being overly reliant on one country making such a high volume of product used.

This does not imply by any means that Chinas role in PV manufacturing should be seen as negative moving forward. It just puts it into a different context, and one that is challenged and moulded by what is happening globally through the entire manufacturing value-chain. Indeed, it may well be that the quickest route to levelling off the one-country disparity in manufacturing is for Chinese companies to embrace overseas production sites from a long-term strategic standpoint.

An interim route of course exists, where Chinese companies work with not against regional manufacturers.

None of the above is necessarily a showstopper, and may indeed become a prerequisite of truly playing in a global TW annual industry. But what is more interesting to ponder now is how technology fits into this, and whether this type of environment can move the industry in a different direction and speed, compared to leaving China to figure out how to make TW levels of advanced n-type or tandem-based solar cells by 2030.

Finally, the icing on the cake would be for global corporates (the ones that have driven the industry to utility-scale) to get fully on board with PV technology, and not just rushing around today to dampen any negative publicity that could arise from being exposed to the China-centric production machine that is responsible for 90%-plus of components used on owned assets.

This would be a gamechanger, not seen before in the sector, and would reinvigorate manufacturing on a global level.

When we started PV CellTech back in 2016, the industry had strong participation from cell producers in Taiwan, Korea and Japan. This diversity actually created a more stimulating discussion on which technologies would emerge in the coming years; multi vs mono was by far the most common topic at PV CellTech events until 2018, for example, in addition to PERC market share levels.

As everyone knows right now, p-mono PERC is completely dominant within the sector, with virtually every Chinese PV player (existing and new entities) churning out press announcements on a weekly basis on aspirations about becoming an n-type cell maker at the 10-GW-level by tomorrow. While one can applaud the sentiment, it really should be the global sector (upstream and downstream) that collectively drives such an important technology change today.

Cell manufacturing and location-of-fabs therefore sets the scene for the topics to be covered in PV CellTech 2021 Online during 25-26 August 2021, but another major factor here relates to a crucial part of the industry today: production equipment and materials supply. Any shift to global manufacturing would have to be in parallel with a new list of production equipment suppliers compared to the past few years, and would also necessitate some of the leading Chinese equipment suppliers becoming more globally-focused and not simply selling domestically to fellow Chinese PV entities.

PV CellTech 2021 Online occurs over two days (25 and 26 August 2021), with three key sessions each day. Each session will be formed of 3-4 keynote presentations, all of which I will moderate myself. One can imagine PV CellTech Online as a two-day high-quality webinar feast, with the ability for attendees to listen to recordings outside their local time zones.

The following sections of the article will discuss each of the six sessions of PV CellTech 2021 Online.

The first session on day one starts with a treat for the industry as a whole. Titled Mass production status and efficiency limits for leading p-type & n-type cell architectures, the talks here will be delivered by Martin Green of UNSW and Wei Shan, the CTO at JA Solar. Additional talks include an up-to-date technology review by myself, looking at where the real n-type production is taking place this year. The opening session will therefore identify the key themes for the two days of PV CellTech Online 2021, and how the industry is really moving to make the n-type transition, in addition to the benefits on offer by way of efficiency and cost once p-type has been fully phased out.

The second session Production equipment & materials to enable high-throughput & low-cost n-type cell manufacturing at the multi-GW scale focuses on perhaps the most critical part of the n-type transition, and key manufacturers of equipment and materials. Talks will come from Heraeus, SCHMID Group and Von Ardenne. Getting the new n-type fabs operating reliably at the multi-GW scale is currently one of the major challenges to the sector, and the contribution here from equipment and material suppliers over the next few years is essential to n-type success.

The final session on day one Cell manufacturing in Europe, the U.S. & Korea; GW mass production from a diversified supply-base addresses one of the major themes discussed at the start of this feature article; making cell production a global industry, not just focused on China and Southeast Asia. This issue is currently seeing huge focus, with investment decisions pending in coming months and years.

The second day of PV CellTech 2021 Online starts with Technology-transfer opportunities to accelerate n-type ramp-up investments globally. It is clear today that decision making on n-type variants, and how to make these work reliably at low cost, is taking place across all parts of the industry. Many of the proponents will only succeed however, if they are aligned with expertise that exists mainly in the leading technology-transfer research institutes globally. This was a key part of the industry making p-type and p-mono PERC mainstream a few years ago. It will almost certainly have to be repeated again, focused on n-type and training production engineers to maximize the new technology potential.

The next session on day two is titled: Polysilicon & wafer supply: geographic production status & meeting high-efficiency cell purity/quality requirements. This issue has been known to be critical for years, as the supply of n-type ingots/wafers has been a niche segment until now. The time to fully understand that is needed from polysilicon purity and ingot pulling for n-type cell production is now, before the demand for wafers comes online in scale. Knowing if all n-type polysilicon and wafers will be made in China (like p-mono today) is a massive deal, and now has a political element underpinning it.

The final session of PV CellTech 2021 Online has been a regular feature at every PV CellTech event going back to 2016: The PV technology roadmap for 200-GW-plus cell production in 2022. This session will again feature the latest ITRPV results and forecasts, delivered by Markus Fischer, in addition to other perspectives on PV technology trends out to 2030. Knowing the factors that will impact adoption rates of n-type (and the possibility of hybrid or tandem variants) out to 2030 is key to understand now.

Details on attending the online event during 25-26 August 2021 can be found at the event website here. There are still a few speaking slots available, so dont hesitate to ask us. The final agenda will be published on the site at the start of August.

Finally, dont forget that the accompanying PV Tech quarterly report, details of which can be seen here. Our team will be happy to set up a demo to see the capacity, capex, technology roadmap, production and R&D spending of the companies making up more than 95% of all industry manufacturing and shipments in 2021, in addition to lots of other information essential to forming strategies going forward.

Read more here:

New PV technologies in new manufacturing regions: has the PV industry finally grown up? - PV-Tech