■ Dell's China shipments jump
Dell Inc, the world's biggest personal-computer maker, probably raised second-quarter shipments in China by about 30 percent, chief executive Kevin Rollins said. Dell's first-quarter sales of desktop PCs, laptops and servers grew 30 percent in China from a year earlier and "our guess is that it's going to be in the same range in the second quarter," Rollins told reporters yesterday in Hong Kong, referring to the three months ended June 30. Rollins is expanding in China, where growth is outpacing that of the US and Europe. The world's most populous country is now Dell's fourth-biggest market and its fastest growing. The company on Wednesday announced plans to open a second factory in China in the first quarter of next year. Dell still lags Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) in China and other Asian markets. Lenovo's share of the Chinese PC market fell to 25 percent in the first quarter from 28 percent in the previous quarter, while Dell's climbed to 8.4 percent from 7.5 percent, according to IDC.
■ Hardware output value rises
The output value of the nation's computer hardware in the first half of this year (at home and abroad) totaled US$34.4 billion, up by 16.8 percent compared with the year-earlier level, according to statistics released yesterday by the government. Personal computer production value accounted for the largest share of 38 percent -- worth US$13.13 billion for 20.39 million units -- tallies made public by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics show. The production value of 44.87 million monitors came second at US$8.67 billion, some 25 percent of the total, reflecting a slight decrease of 0.9 percent in annual growth rate. PDAs yielded the largest increase rate of 97.5 percent in annual output value, hitting US$1.43 billion for the first six months, while production amounts also rose by 60.8 percent to 6.19 million units.
■ Foxconn to make acquisition
Mobile phone maker Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康), whose shares were suspended from trading yesterday, will make a "small" acquisition from a connected party, a source familiar with the situation said. The source did not give further details on the deal, but the Hong Kong stock exchange said Foxconn's suspension was pending an announcement in relation to the sale of new shares. Foxconn's spokeswoman declined comment. Shares in Foxconn, the mobile handset arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), have risen 58.5 percent since their February listing.
■ Taipower lifts deficit estimate
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) will suffer a deficit of NT$4.7 billion (US$147 million) this year after a rise in the price of oil and natural gas announced by the Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) on Tuesday, a Taipower official said on Wednesday. Taipower officials noted that the price hikes for fuel oil and natural gas will increase the cost of electricity generation by NT$1.6 billion for the company from this month to December. Taipower originally estimated that it may suffer a deficit of NT$3.1 billion this year.
■ NT dollar inches up
The New Taiwan dollar turned stronger against its US counterpart yesterday, edging up NT$0.073 to close at NT$31.820 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$817 million, rising from Wednesday's US$708 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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six