■ R&D spending rising
The ratio of the nation's spending on research and development (R&D) is approaching that of industrialized nations such as Finland and Japan, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday. The ratio of Taiwan's R&D spending to the GDP rose to 2.42 percent in 2004 from 1.98 percent in 1999, it said. According to the Knowledge Economy Index published by the World Bank this year, Taiwan ranked 21st among 128 countries surveyed. Taiwan ranked 10th and 12th in innovation and information infrastructure, respectively, but only 38th in human resources. To strengthen the edge in innovation, the government will increase its spending on R&D to 3 percent of the GDP this year, the council said. The figure is comparable to that of Finland (3.49 percent) or Japan (3.15 percent).
■ Coal-fired plant plan delayed
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), which generates about 75 percent of the nation's electricity, delayed a NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) coal-fired plant project by two years after the government ordered a new environmental impact study.
Taipower now plans to start building the 1,600-megawatt plant in Changhua County next year, said Yu Sheng-hsiung (余勝雄), director of the company's power development department.
The plant is now scheduled to start operation in 2012, Yu said. Taiwan is responsible for about 1 percent of the world's production of so-called greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. Taipower accounts for about one-third of the carbon dioxide that Taiwan generates.
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],”