■ Semiconductors
Intel cuts processor prices
Intel Corp cut prices on some desktop chips by as much as 40 percent ahead of the introduction of new products. The Pentium 960 will sell for US$316 in batches of 1,000, down from US$530, according to a price list provided by the company. New chips called Core 2 Duo will cost as much as US$999 each and be the highest-priced. Core 2 Duo, which will be released this quarter, is a replacement for the six-year-old Pentium 4 design at the top of Intel's product range.
■ Beef
Japan may ease US ban
Japan is expected to approve a partial resumption of imports of US beef on Thursday, the national Yomiuri newspaper said yesterday, without citing sources. The news came with Japanese inspectors set to return home today from a month of monitoring US meat processing plants -- a condition Japan requested last month when it agreed in principle to resume imports. An Agriculture Ministry official denied that a date had been set. "Nothing has been decided" as to the timing of the resumption, ministry official Katsuaki Sasaki said. Japan is making final preparations for the resumption of US beef imports, which were banned over mad cow disease fears. Japan lifted the ban late last year, but then re-imposed it in January after inspectors found a shipment containing banned animal parts.
■ Banking
HSBC to top Central America
Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, is to become the largest banking group in Central America with the US$1.77 billion acquisition of Panama-based Grupo Banistmo. The acquisition will take HSBC, which operates in 76 countries, into another five -- Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua. It will also consolidate HSBC's operations in Panama, where it has had a presence since 1972. HSBC's operations in Latin America have been growing much faster than its British and US businesses. The bank has been building its presence in Central America through a series of takeovers in recent years.
■ Game consoles
Xbox 360 taking off in Asia
Microsoft Corp is confident of further expansion in Xbox 360 sales in Asia and sees opportunities in a planned launch in India later this year, Alan Bowman, general manager of entertainment and devices for the Asia-Pacific and Greater China, said on Friday. Bowman, speaking in a telephone interview from Sydney, said Microsoft sold 5 million units of the Xbox 360 worldwide since its initial launch last year, with Asia-Pacific sales accounting for 400,000 units. The company expects to sell another 8 million to 10 million units over the next year globally, Bowman said, adding that sales in Asia would likely continue to hold a similar proportion of total sales.
■ Finance
John Mack called to testify
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has requested testimony from John Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, as part of an investigation into possible insider dealing, the Wall Street bank said on Friday. Mack's testimony is being sought by regulators probing the hedge fund Pequot Capital, as the US Congress also ratchets up a review of the billion-dollar hedge fund industry. The US securities regulator has been reviewing trading at Pequot Capital. Mack, one of Wall Street's best known executives, was temporarily Pequot's chairman before he was appointed Morgan Stanley's CEO last June.
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