United Test changes forecast
United Test and Assembly Center Ltd, Singapore's second-largest provider of chip-testing services, said it may pay a lower price for its planned S$794 million (US$462 million) purchase of Taiwan's UltraTera Corp (聯測科技).
The Hsinchu-based firm will not be able to meet targets set for this year, United Test said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
The Singapore company said two months ago it would exchange 1.6 of its shares for each share of UltraTera.
NPL progress pays
Taiwan banks that were able to bring non-performing loan (NPL) ratios below 2.5 percent by the end of last year will be rewarded, the Bureau of Monetary Affairs said in a statement. These rewards will include getting a green light to launch new financial services, easier approval on opening more branches in Taiwan and permission to open offices in China, the bureau said.
Banks with NPL figures above 5 percent would be barred from setting up overseas and domestic branches, while those with NPL figures above 15 percent would be forced to close some branch operations and be restricted from making investments and loans, the bureau said.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued to lose ground against its US counterpart, falling NT$0.008 to close at NT$33.775 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$580 million.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”