Chi Mei overtakes Sharp
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan's second largest producer of flat computer-screen panels, together with its joint venture International Display Technology Inc surpassed its Japanese rival Sharp Corp in the number of panels it shipped in the last quarter of last year, US-based research firm DisplaySearch reported yesterday.
Chi Mei and its joint venture with IBM Japan saw shipments increase 12 percent compared to the third quarter, making it the fourth largest supplier globally. Meanwhile Sharp's shipments dropped 4 percent, pushing it back into fifth place. There was more jostling at the top as South Korea's LG Philips LCD pushed Samsung Electronics Co off the top spot and into second place. Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) held onto the number three spot.
Shipments of flat panels larger than 10 inches in diameter increased 15 percent in the final quarter of last year compared to the third quarter, and 27 percent compared to the same period the year before, DisplaySearch said. A total of 18.7 million panels were shipped last year.
Minister insists on higher price
Taiwan hasn't renewed a contract with Goldman Sachs Group Inc to manage the overseas sale of a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) stake because they can't agree on a price, a local newspaper said, citing unidentified government officials.
Goldman advised the government, which owns four-fifths of Taiwan's largest phone company, to sell American depositary receipts for a price equivalent to about NT$40 per local share, a discount of 23 percent to the March 14 closing price of NT$52, the report said.
Lin Ling-san (林陵三), minister of the transportation ministry, which controls the Chunghwa Telecom stake, can't accept that price because the government in December sold a 13.5 percent stake domestically for a price per share of NT$50.3, the report said.
Gre Tai to share with KOSDAQ
Gre Tai Securities Market (櫃台買賣中心), Taiwan's over-the-counter market, is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Friday with its South Korean counterpart KOSDAQ Stock Market Inc for information sharing, a Gre Tai spokeswoman said yesterday.
KOSDAQ chief executive officer and president Shin Ho-joo would sign the MOU in Taipei with Gre Tai chairman Lee Yung-san (李庸三), the spokeswoman said.
The MOU with KOSDAQ would be the first one inked by Gre Tai to share trading information with a foreign stock exchange since it was established eight years ago, she said.
Gre Tai hoped the cooperation would help boost its image in the region, she added.
BenQ expects steady profit
BenQ Corp (明基電通) said it expects its profit to be little changed from last year, even as sales rose 30 percent, driven by demand for flat-panel monitors and televisions.
Net income will probably rise 1 percent to NT$7.5 billion (US$216 million) in 2003, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. BenQ, Taiwan's biggest mobile-phone maker, posted profit of NT$7.4 billion last year on sales of NT$110.3 billion.
BenQ, which also makes flat panels, computer scanners and consumer electronics, will increase shipments of those products. The company said earlier that it will ship about 16.5 million cell phones this year, the same as last year.
NT dollar gains strength
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.004 to close at NT$34.703 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$259 million.
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