Japanese to invest in Chia Hui
Electric Power Development Co, an electricity wholesaler owned by Japan's government and nine utilities, will invest Japanese Yen 8billion (US$65.9 million), its largest ever overseas investment, in Chia Hui Power Corp (嘉惠電廠).
Electric Power, known as J-Power, will buy a 40 percent stake in the company from Asia Cement Corp (亞泥) as part of a plan to expand its overseas business, J-Power spokesman Satoshi Masui said in an interview. Chia Hui Power will issue new shares to J-Power next year, he said.
SiGe technology versatile
The semiconductor manufacturing industry's capability to make commercial applications for advanced technologies can contribute to nanotechnology research and development in Taiwan, a senior researcher of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said yesterday.
Shyu Jyuo-min, director of the ITRI's Electronics Research and Service Organization, said at a workshop on SiGe (silicon germanium) technology in Hsinchu that the ITRI has made SiGe technology an important part of its nanotechnology R&D program.
SiGe material has substantially higher mobility than silicon material. The major advantage of SiGe is that it is compatible with CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) and devices can be designed which can be fabricated on a silicon chip along side CMOS and bipolar.
Dell doubling orders
Dell Computer Corp will double orders for flat-panel monitors from suppliers BenQ Corp (明電) and Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), a local newspaper reported, citing unidentified officials of the Dell suppliers.
Dell next year will double the flat-panel monitors it sells with desktop computers to 40 percent, after prices of the screens fell by almost a third since June, the report said.
Hewlett-Packard Co, which Dell displaced earlier this year to become the No. 1 PC maker, will also double its orders with local suppliers for desktop flat-panel monitors next year, the report said.
Korea Air charters set
Korean Air Co, South Korea's largest carrier, will offer three weekly charter flights between Seoul and Taipei for two months as the two countries try to revive national carrier links which were ended in 1992 after Seoul established diplomatic relations with China.
Korean Air will operate the flights between Dec. 27 and Feb. 21, using either Boeing Co 737 or Airbus SAS A330 planes, depending on the demand, the country's Ministry of Construction and Transportation said in a statement.
Transasia Airways Corp (復興) last month won South Korean approval to operate four weekly charter flights between Taipei and Yang Yang airport in Gangwon Province during the peak ski season from Dec. 22 until Feb. 18.
AU Optronics plans buyback
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest maker of flat-panel displays, said it plans to buy back about 0.5 percent of its outstanding shares.
The company will spend NT$470 million (US$13.5 million) to buy back 20 million of its 4 billion common shares listed on the TAIEX, it said in a statement to the exchange. The buyback will start today and last until Feb. 16.
AU Optronics plans to buy the stock for prices ranging from NT$17.5 to NT$23.5. The shares, closed yesterday at NT$20.2.
NT dollar rises slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose against its US counterpart, gaining NT$0.011 to close at NT$34.785 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$397 million, compared with the previous day's US$331 million.
Agencies
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