■ Motorola sells shares
Motorola Inc, the second-biggest mobile phone maker in the world, may raise HK$874.6 million (US$112 million) from the sale of 517.5 million shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路) that it owns, according to a term sheet issued to investors today. The shares are being offered at HK$1.64 to HK$1.69 each, representing a discount of as much as 3 percent to the company's closing price of HK$1.69 today, the term sheet showed. Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing, China's biggest supplier of made-to-order chips, raised HK$14 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering last March. The stock was sold to investors at HK$2.72 in the initial public offering (IPO). Deutsche Bank AG, which arranged the IPO with Credit Suisse First Boston, is managing today's sale. Motorola owned 1.43 billion Semiconductor Manufacturing shares or about 7.8 percent of the company's outstanding stock at Dec. 31.
■ Hong Kong port costs rise
Port operators in Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen plan to levy additional charges on containers handled by their terminals to cover the cost of security, shipping daily Lloyd's List reported, citing a memo to shipping lines. Hong Kong will charge a security fee of HK$50 (US$6.41) for each laden container it handles from May 1, the report said. Shenzhen will charge 50 yuan (US$6.04) for each container. European and US ports have introduced similar charges, Lloyd's said.
■ Bike show starts Friday
The 2005 Taipei International Bicycle Show starts on Friday at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall, the event's organizer, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), said last week in a statement. Apart from Taiwanese bike manufacturers who have factories in China, Vietnam and the Philippines, many global brands in the US and Europe will also showcase their latest products at this year's event, TAITRA said. According to TAITRA statistics, more than 600 companies have registered to take part in this year's fair, which features 2,000 booths. The Taipei Cycle Show, Asia's largest bicycle fair, will also hold the Taipei International Elimination Road Race on Sunday with 40 athletes from 14 countries participating, TAITRA said. The winner of the race will receive a NT$100,000 (US$3,175) cash prize.
■ Foreign capital boosts market
The combined market value of listed companies in Taiwan hit NT$14.249 trillion (US$452.36 billion) at the close of trading on Friday, up NT$214.27 billion, or 1.53 percent, over the previous week, according to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange Co (TSEC). The TAIEX -- the benchmark of the domestic bourse -- moved up 92.4 points, or 1.51 percent, for the week to finish at 6,207.83. The surge was mainly due to an inflow of foreign capital due to an increasing appreciation of the NT dollar against the US dollar, according to the TSEC report. Share prices for the 20 main categories gained ground, except for paper and pulp issues, with glass and ceramics stocks moving up the most at 7.4 percent. There have been 34 trading days on the Taiwan Stock Exchange so far this year, with a combined turnover of NT$2.312 trillion, or a daily average of NT$66.89 billion.
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