■ UMC plans China investment
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said yesterday it plans to invest up to US$50 million in the printed circuit board business in Jiangsu Province of eastern China. UMC, the second-largest contract microchip maker after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), plans to invest up to US$20 million in Suzhou and US$30 million in Kunshan, a UMC spokesman said. The two plans, if approved by the government, will be UMC's first authorized investments in China, the spokesman said.
■ Ford Lio Ho looks to diesel
Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和), the nation's fourth-biggest automaker, said that it will introduce more diesel-powered vehicles this year to cater to growing demand. The Focus TDCi is expected to be available in the third quarter, while Mondeo large sedans will come by the end of the year, or early next year, Ford Lio Ho president Jeffery Nemeth said at a media gathering on Tuesday. Another diesel version that might hit local shores is the S-Max multi-purpose vehicle, he said. The company said it has plans to offer a series of diesel cars from mid to large-sized sedans to recreational vehicles as such cars are gaining momentum here. Meanwhile, Ford Lio Ho is also talking to various countries for possibilities to export locally assembled Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute sports utility vehicles, after successfully exporting the first batch to Japan, New Zealand and Australia last May.
■ Citigroup rates HTC a `buy'
High Tech Computer Corp (HTC, 宏達電), the world's largest maker of handsets using Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, was rated "buy" in new coverage at Citigroup Inc which said the market has already "priced in a worst-case scenario" on the stock. "We believe the market previously was overoptimistic and underestimated the competition. Now the market may be overly negative as HTC shifts to a branded strategy" from a contract manufacturing model, Taipei-based analyst Kent Chan (陳衛斌) wrote in a report dated yesterday. He has a 12-month price target of NT$650 on the stock. Shares of HTC climbed 1.1 percent to close at NT$487 at the close of trade in Taipei yesterday.
■ Chen praises science park
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said on Thursday he was looking forward to seeing the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung County become the world's most competitive industrial hub. Chen made the remarks while attending a name plaque unveiling ceremony for the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration office. The park now accommodates 85 high-tech companies, with more than NT$1.7 trillion (US$514.5 billion) in accumulated capital investment, Chen said, adding that the park has so far created over 17,000 jobs.
■ NT dollar hits four-month low
The New Taiwan dollar dropped to a four-month low as investors sold stocks on speculation that slowing US growth will sap demand for Taiwanese goods. The local currency dropped 0.2 percent this week to NT$33.102 in Taipei, the weakest since last November, according to Taipei Forex Inc. Global funds this week offloaded a net US$1.7 billion of Taiwanese shares as concern increased that issues with US subprime mortgages may slow the world's biggest economy.
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