Company sells chip testing unit
Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (矽統) plans to sell its microchip-testing business to King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) to focus on microchip design, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing an unidentified Silicon Integrated official.
Silicon Integrated plans to complete the transfer of its Hsinchu-based microchip testing and packaging division to King Yuan by the middle of this year, the newspaper said.
Taipower goes for wind power
State-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) plans to invest NT$45 billion (US$1.4 billion) over 10 years to build wind-generated power plants along the nation's western coastal county of Yunlin County, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing company official Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄).
On Tuesday Taipower applied to the Yunlin County Government for the planned power plants, expecting to install 245 sets of wind-generated power systems, the paper said, citing Chen, director of Taipower's power development division.
Hynix says bottom line hit
Hynix Semiconductor Inc of South Korea said yesterday that a strong won, combined with weak memory chip prices and higher prices of raw materials, had made a dent in its bottom line.
For the three months to March, Hynix, the world's second-largest manufacturer of memory chips after local peer Samsung Electronics, said net profit fell 16 percent year-on-year to 321 billion won (US$320 million). Compared with the previous quarter, net profit for the first quarter was up 53 percent.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure