■ Computers
MS drops support, swastika
Microsoft Corp will stop offering support services next month for computer users whose machines are still running Windows 98, though the company said it might still release security patches if threats appear serious enough. About 20 percent of all Windows-based computers still run Windows 95 or 98, according to International Data Corp, a technology market research firm. Support for Windows 95 stopped Dec. 31, 2001. People whose machines run Windows 98 will not be able to call Microsoft for help after Jan. 16. Online assistance will still be available. Meanwhile, Microsoft also said Friday that it would delete the swastika, a Nazi emblem, from new versions of its widely used Office program and offer tools to remove and replace the offending characters from existing versions of the software suite. The company said the symbol was included in Microsoft's "Bookshelf Symbol 7" font and was derived from a Japanese font set.
■ Petroleum
Sinochem acquires stake
China's Sinochem Corporation has paid US$100 million to acquire a 14 percent stake in an oil field in Ecuador operated by the US firm ConocoPhilipps, the China Daily said yesterday. Spanish company Repsol YPF has a 55 percent stake in the field while Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) has a 31 percent share. Through the deal, Sinochem would be entitled to 8,000 barrels of oil per day, which it could either ship to China or sell on the international market. Sinochem specialises in deals both on the international and domestic markets for oil, fertilisers, rubber, plastics and chemicals. It also invests in industry, finance and insurance.
■ Transportation
Singapore to expand MRT
Singapore transport authorities have unveiled the final plan for a S$6.7 billion (US$3.9 billion) circle subway line that will link residential towns and industrial estates to the city center. The 33km, 29-station, ring line will be built in three sections with the first expected to be completed by 2007, the Land Transport Authority said in a statement. Holland Village, a popular neighborhood for Western expatriates, will be a stop on the line's final stage, which will be completed by 2010, the authority said. Singapore, an island of 4 million people, boasts one of the world's most modern subway systems. Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit, or MRT, first opened in 1987. Singapore has three MRT lines.
■ Trade
S Korea to start FTA talks
South Korea said yesterday it will begin negotiations this month with Japan on a free-trade pact between the Asian economic powerhouses. The talks will open Dec. 22 in Seoul, the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said in a news release. The two major trading partners agreed in 1998 to push the trade pact. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed in October to conclude the trade accord by the end of 2005, saying it would bolster bilateral trade and investment. Last year, South Korea exported US$16.4 billion worth of goods to Japan, its third-largest market. Japan shipped US$30.3 billion worth of goods South Korea, which is Japan's third-largest export market.
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
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
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