News over the holiday weekend that Hsinchu officials were charged with allegedly extorting money from science park firms couldn't come at a worse time as the nation is currently in a battle to slow down a high-tech exodus abroad.
Even if the allegations are proved false, the psychological damage has already been done to the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (
The city of Hsinchu's Prosecutors Office last Saturday charged Hsinchu Mayor Tsai Jen-chien (
"[Fees like that] may be why United Microelectronics Corp (UMC
In August 1999 the city government of Hsinchu created the NT$3.9 billion fund to pay for infrastructure projects around the industrial park. Under the plan, companies operating in the park were supposed to contribute "donations" to the fund.
Companies in the park who refused to "donate" frequently received fines from the city's Environmental Protection Agency -- intimidation tactics -- according to media reports. Companies who reportedly received fines quite often include UMC, Macronix International (
In an example of how the alleged "donations" were collected, UMC, the nation's second largest semiconductor foundry, was told to stop production at its 8E semiconductor fabrication plant last May while the Environmental Protection Agency conducted an "environmental impact assessment" of its operations.
The agency said UMC had not conducted an assessment before beginning full production at the plant.
At the time of the order, a UMC spokesman said the suspension of production at the 8E plant would cost the company NT$50 million per day in losses. Another anonymous industry insider claims the situation was only rectified after UMC donated to the city's NT$3.9 billion fund.
Problems between the Hsinchu city government and companies in the industrial park have been ongoing for the past year. T
But the Hsinchu city government believes it has a right to charge extra fees to companies inside the park in return for providing basic infrastructure such as roads and public transportation links. The three officials named in the suit have denied any wrongdoing and expect to be exonerated of all charges.
Since January last year, companies in the park have been hit by over 40 blackouts, costing park firms hundreds of millions in NT dollar losses. The Hsinchu-based chipmakers account for 80 percent of the world's graphics chips and 15 percent of its memory chips.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained