■ Electronics
Hon Hai head selling shares
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is seeking to sell 7 million of his shares in the nation's largest electronics exporter, according to stock exchange data. Gou, the nation's second-richest person, on Friday applied to the Taiwan Stock Exchange to sell the shares on the spot market, based on statistics published on the stock exchange's Web site. No details were disclosed on the selling price. The proposed sale will be worth NT$1.61 billion (US$51 million), based on Hon Hai's NT$229.50 closing share price on Friday. Shares of Hon Hai have risen 28 percent this year compared with a 13 percent gain in the nation's benchmark TAIEX in the same period. Gou holds 635 million Hon Hai shares, according to the exchange statistics. That's worth NT$146 billion based on Friday's closing share price. Gou is selling Hon Hai shares to raise money to pay taxes, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. Gou last applied to sell 80 million Hon Hai shares in July 2004, the Taipei-based newspaper said.
■ Technology
Chinese robot gets personal
China has manufactured its first "personal robot" that can provide services at home and, among other skills, log on to the Internet and tell its owners the news and weather, Xinhua news agency said on Friday. Liangliang (亮亮), standing at about 80cm, is able to walk and navigate obstacles at ease, as well as perform tasks as instructed by humans. Its developer, the Shenyang-based Xinsong Automation Co, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the robot cold "provide services of education, entertainment and security" and act as a personal assistant, Xinhua said. "In the presentation debut, a staffer sent a mobile phone short message to the robot inquiring about the situations at home and, in two minutes, Liangliang replied with a message: temperature 22oC and everything normal at home," Xinhua said.
■ Retail
Exxon to sell Borneo outlets
Exxon Mobil plans to sell 28 retail service stations operated by its Malaysian subsidiary on Borneo island to a local company, a news report said yesterday. The oil giant, which has operated in Malaysia for more than 100 years, will continue to run the hundreds of other service stations it owns across the Southeast Asian nation, the Star newspaper said. ExxonMobil Borneo Sdn Bhd, an Exxon subsidiary, has accepted an offer from TCH Enterprise Sdn Bhd to buy its retail service stations and operate them as an Esso-branded distributor, the Star quoted a spokesman as saying. The report did not say why Exxon was selling the stations or the sale price, and the group could not be reached for comment yesterday.
■ Beverages
Pepsi settles with water rival
PepsiCo Inc has agreed to change the look of its SoBe Life Water drink to settle a lawsuit brought by a company which promotes itself as a pioneering nutrient-enhanced water maker, it was announced on Friday. Energy Brands, which does business as Glaceau, had sued PepsiCo, the parent of the beverage maker Pepsi Cola, saying the look of the SoBe Life Water product was vastly similar to its own Vitaminwater brand. In the lawsuit, Energy Brands said PepsiCo launched its product with similar ingredients, color, sweetener type and calorie content only after first trying to acquire the Vitaminwater brand earlier this year.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI