■ Semiconductors
MediaTek settles patent suit
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), a local digital media chipset solutions provider, said yesterday it has agreed with Zoran Corp of the US to settle their patent infringement disputes. Under the settlement, the two companies will immediately dismiss all pending litigation filed against each other in all jurisdictions worldwide, the Taiwanese firm said. The companies began suing each other in 2004. MediaTek, the world's biggest maker of chips for DVD players, will pay Zoran US$55 million in licensing fees and US$30 million in royalty payments over the next 30 months. Zoran said it would split the proceeds of the settlement with another rights holder, which it didn't name. The two sides also signed agreements authorizing the use of each other's patents in optical storage devices for computer products.
■ Technology
`Taiwan e-Future' proposed
With information and telecommunication technology expected to connect all corporations, homes and individuals in the future, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Microsoft Corp yesterday announced plans to develop joint service offerings for a "Taiwan e-Future." The two companies signed a letter of intent to co-develop various IT services and undertake various public benefit programs to reduce the digital gap and a training center to cultivate domestic IT and communication talent. Chunghwa Telecom hopes to make telecommunication services more useful and offer services especially geared toward small and medium-sized businesses, company president Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) said. To reduce the digital gap for students in remote areas and disadvantaged groups, Microsoft Taiwan will donate software to students, while Chunghwa Telecom will provide Internet connection services, said Tim Chen (陳永正), Microsoft's corporate vice president and CEO for the Greater China region.
■ Employment
Sales staff most sought
Sales, manufacturing, restaurants and tourism will be the sectors most in need of employees this year, according to the results of a survey that was released yesterday by Pan Asia Human Resources Management Co (泛亞人力銀行). According to the survey of the 280,000 jobs advertised by the company this month, sales staff are most needed, with jobs in this sector representing 19.68 percent of job offerings. This is followed by manufacturing with 13.07 percent and tourism and restaurants with 12.24 percent. Yang Ken-cheng (楊肯誠), the company's chief operation officer, said the large number of jobs in tourism and at restaurants indicates that people are taking more vacation time and spending more money on leisure.
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