■ PixArt inks deal with Avago
Chip image sensor maker PixArt Imaging Inc (
US-based Avago is the world's largest privately held semiconductor company.
Under the pact, each party will be granted a license to access each other's patents and patent applications related to optical mice, according to a press release.
There will be no legal claims or actions based on the licensed patents in the future, PixArt said.
"To focus research and development resources effectively and prevent disputes from arising from patent litigation, PixArt chooses to exchange patent licenses with the product's pioneer," PixArt chief executive Sen Huang (
■ VoIP products multiplying
Manufacturers in the Greater China region are expected to produce 29 million Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products this year, Global Sources Ltd said yesterday.
VoIP product exports are estimated to hit 22.66 million units, an increase of 14 percent over last year, said the US-based business-to-business media company.
The company said telephony solutions are expected to drive growth in the worldwide VoIP market, with shipments this year increasing 52 percent year-on-year.
Global Sources said buyers sourcing VoIP products from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China can expect a growing yet dynamic supply market in the coming year.
Taiwan, in particular, leads product development and production in the region with VoIP gateways, phones, terminal adaptors and routers, according to Global Sources.
■ Quanta shares drop again
Shares of Quanta Computer Inc (
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported on Thursday that Quanta would lose orders from its only GPS client TomTom NV, Europe's largest maker of car-navigation equipment.
The two companies denied the report, and the Dutch company said it will continue a supply agreement with Quanta for some of the models in its Go product range, a portable device for cars and other vehicles with a touch-screen display using the satellite navigation system to determine location.
■ Baidu closes enterprise unit
Baidu.com Inc (
Baidu laid off about 30 people based in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen after closing the division that develops search software for other companies on July 10, Cynthia He, a spokeswoman for the Beijing-based company, said yesterday. Sales of enterprise software contributed an "immaterial" part to Baidu's operations, He said.
The move will help Baidu focus on its core business to keep its lead over Yahoo! Inc and Google Inc.
■ Taishin to auction bad loans
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控) said its banking unit plans to auction as much as NT$15 billion (US$459 million) of bad loans. The lender, Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), hasn't decided whether to hold one auction or several, the Taipei-based parent company said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
Taishin said on Feb. 3 that it would make provisions of NT$19.1 billion in last year's results to cover potential bad loans, many related to credit and cash card accounts.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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