■ Semiconductors
Industry to top NT$2 trillion
The production value of Taiwan's semiconductor industry is expected to reach NT$1.75 trillion (US$53.35 billion) in 2008 and to top NT$2 trillion by 2010, according to tallies released yesterday by the Industrial Development Bureau. The production of the semiconductor industry was valued at NT$1.12 trillion last year, up 1.72 percent from 2004, said officials at the bureau. Last year, the nation's contract chip-making industry seized a 69.2 percent share of the world market, while the IC packaging industry garnered 44.8 percent and the IC testing industry gained 60 percent, the officials said. The global market share of Taiwan's IC design industry expanded to 21.5 percent last year, making the country the world's second-largest IC designer, they said.
■ State-owned firms
Six firms post huge deficit
Six state-owned enterprises under the Ministry of Economic Affairs recorded a total deficit of NT$33.2 billion (US$1.01 billion) between January and last month this year, the ministry said on Saturday. Although four of the enterprises made profits in the first eight months, the profits were offset by huge losses recorded by Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), due to skyrocketing oil prices, the ministry said. Taipower posted a pre-tax surplus of NT$3.88 billion last month after increasing electricity rates in July, but it still posted a deficit of NT$10.82 billion for the eight months to last month. CPC lost NT$2.98 billion last month and NT$25.37 billion for the first eight months of this year.
■ Piracy
New York passes bootleg law
The US state of New York is further cracking down on bootleg CDs often sold at open-air markets with a new law aimed at protecting artists and recording industry workers. The music piracy law signed into law on Friday by Governor George Pataki makes a Class E felony of selling 100 illegal CDs. That's lowered from the threshold of 1,000, which allowed illicit sellers to maintain adequate inventories without risking a felony charge. The New York City Comptroller's Office estimated the illegal trade cost the city US$1 billion in lost tax revenue.
■ Semiconductors
Freescale agrees to buyout
Freescale Semiconductor Inc agreed to a takeover by private-equity firms led by Blackstone Group LP for US$17.6 billion in the biggest technology buyout ever. The shareholders of the chipmaker will be offered US$40 a share in cash, a 36 percent premium over Austin, Texas-based Freescale's average closing price in the 30 trading days ended Sept. 8, the company said in a statement on Friday. Blackstone, whose US$15.6 billion buyout fund is the world's largest, along with Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth, Texas, Washington-based Carlyle Group and Permira Advisers LLP in London topped a rival bid by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and other firms.
■ Automobiles
DaimlerChrysler cuts forecast
DaimlerChrysler AG cut its operating profit forecast for this year on Friday, saying it now expects a1.2 billion euro (US$1.52 billion) third-quarter loss at Chrysler -- more than twice the amount anticipated. Shares in the company fell more than 5 percent. The German-American automaker lowered its operating profit forecast for this year to approximately 5 billion euros, based on an expected full-year loss for the US-based Chrysler Group of1 billion euro.
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],”