The National Science Council (NSC) approved yesterday the launch of the second phase of a national telecommunications research program from next year, outlining the birth of a third hi-tech industry with an annual production value worth more than NT$1 trillion (US$29.67 billion) by 2007.
The national telecommunication research program, which kicked off in May 1998 with the aim of building Taiwan into a technologically advanced nation, will continue with its second phase from the beginning of next year, following the smooth completion of the first phase, slated for the end of this year, it was decided at an NSC board meeting.
Under the program, the production value of the domestic wireless telecommunications sectors and the broadband telecommunications sector will be able to hit NT$580 billion and NT$500 billion, respectively, in 2007, board members said.
The two sectors together will create an output of more than NT$1 trillion, in addition to the semiconductor and the TFT-LCD industries included in the "two-trillion, two-star" plan of the first phase, they explained.
According to NSC officials, the second phase will focus on application and service-oriented fields in an effort to build a comprehensive telecom service mechanism that provides a sound Internet environment and service-based platform.
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