■ Electronics
Acer denies Siemens tie-up
Acer Inc, the nation's third biggest computer company, isn't in talks with Siemens AG, Germany's largest electronics company, over a mobile-phone tie-up, said Henry Wang, an Acer spokesman. The Taipei-based company has no plans to buy the German company's mobile-phone unit or hire it to make mobile phones, Wang said. "We won't rule out tapping the mobile-phone market, but our core business is computers and that will continue to be our focus," he said. German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Friday that Acer was in advanced talks with Siemens. Citing people familiar with the situation that it didn't identify, the paper said Acer wasn't the only company in talks with Siemens. The mobile-phone unit of Munich-based Siemens is set to lose 125 million euros (US$163 million) in its fiscal second quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. A Siemens spokesman declined to comment.
■ Privatization
Land Bank stake to be sold
Taiwan's government plans to sell a 13.5 percent stake in state-run Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) for the listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in August, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing a Ministry of Finance proposal. The ministry plans to sell a 5.4 percent stake in Land Bank to its workers and 8.1 percent to the public, the report said. Taiwan plans to sell another stake in the lender following its listing to overseas investors, the report said. The government plans to price the shares for at least NT$20 (US$0.63) each, Aaron Chou , head of the Land Bank's planning department said in November.
■ Manufacturing
Forty share dormitory toilet
Operators of a foreign workers' dormitory have been told to clean up by tomorrow or face action after occupants complained 40 men were sharing one toilet and up to 10 were sleeping in rooms the size of bus shelters. The dormitory, housing at least 3,000 workers, is operated by GoldStrong Technology, which can be fined a maximum of S$10,000 (US$6,097) if it does not comply. The dorm became the focus of attention on Friday after Yeo Guat Kwang, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, was shut out by GoldStrong management when he went to investigate the complaints of dire living conditions. National Environment Agency rules stipulate that toilets must not be shared by more than 15 people and each worker should have 3m2 of space.
■ Telecoms
Qwest sweetens MCI offer
Qwest Communications International Inc has upped its offer for MCI Inc by US$800 million to fend off a rival offer from Verizon, news reports said on Friday. The new cash-and-stock offer, the third time Qwest has raised its bid, values MCI at US$9.7 billion and breaks down to US$30 per share. It also includes an additional US$1 billion in committed financing to ease concerns about whether the combined company would have the financial resources to compete, Qwest chief executive Richard Notebaert said in a letter to MCI's board. The latest bid, described as Qwest's "best and final," will be withdrawn if it is not declared superior by Virginia-based MCI by 3pm today, he said. The offer came two weeks after the MCI board for the second time accepted an offer from Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon's latest bid was a US$7.5 billion cash-and-stock offer, valued at US$23.10 a share.
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],”