Intel links up with NCHC
Intel Corp announced yesterday a collaboration with the National Center for High Performance Computing (NCHC) to enable a powerful high-performance computing infrastructure in Taiwan, the US chipmaker said in a statement.
The collaboration between Intel and NCHC began last year when Intel began providing technical resources and support for a proof-of-concept (POC) project with system testing in relation to NCHC's grid-computing infrastructure, the statement said.
"Such a joint endeavor between a national laboratory ... and an international computing technology leader such as Intel will serve as a remarkable model for leading technology enterprises to emulate," said NCHC director Joe Chuang (莊哲男).
The broad deployment of high-performance computing systems worldwide is accessible in areas such as life science, weather forecasting, manufacturing and energy development, the statement quoted Gerald Greeve, Intel's vice president of sales and marketing for Asia-Pacific operations, as saying.
Delta plans new plant
Delta Electronics (Thailand) Pcl plans to build a 4.8 billion baht (US$119 million) plant to boost production of its computer parts and monitors, according to a report published by the Krungthep Thurakit newspaper.
The company, based in Samut Prakarn, Thailand, will start building the plant this year and complete it in 2005, the report cited executive director Anusorn Muttaraid as saying.
The plant will make computer switching supply equipment, flat-screen monitors and other parts. Delta has sought import and income tax waivers for the plant, the report said.
Delta, a unit of Taiwan's Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子), said yesterday that it may replace about US$600,000 of defective phone chargers sold to Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, its third recall of products from an international customer.
China Steel sale starts Monday
The government will test investor demand for China Steel Corp (中鋼) shares starting Monday, a banker involved in the transaction said.
The sale could raise more than US$1 billion.
Government officials will meet with overseas investors until about Oct. 6, the banker said. The government plans to sell 1.2 billion China Steel shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDRs), or a 12.7 percent stake in the US$7.5 billion state-controlled company.
``The sale, which could exceed US$1 billion, will be an important capital injection to the national budget,'' said Felice Chen, deputy executive secretary of the Development Fund, which is overseeing the sale on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
EVA begins Hanoi flights
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) launched its first Taipei-Hanoi flight yesterday to increase its Indochina service, airlines officials announced.
EVA will operate four weekly round trip flights between Taipei and Vietnamese capital, the officials said.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at CKS International Airport to mark the maiden flight to Hanoi, which will be EVA's fourth operational point in Indochina.
Some 220,000 Taiwanese visited Vietnam last year.
NT dollar holds steady
The New Taiwan dollar maintained its strength against the US dollar, rising NT$0.013 to close at NT$34.090 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$942 million.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
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OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to