Court rules in APBT's favor
The Taipei District Court yesterday delivered a new civil arbitration in favor of Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (APBT, 亞太固網), preventing Deutsche Bank from selling off the local fixed-line operator's mobile unit as part of a loan repayment plan, the Central News Agency reported, citing APBT.
Last March, APBT under Rebar Group's management obtained a NT$6.8 billion (US$205 million) bank loan from lender Deutsche Bank and Chinese telephone equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co (華為技術), using 1.42 billion Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc (亞太行動) shares as collateral.
As APBT faced financial difficulty, the German bank obtained the court's approval in May to auction the wireless unit's shares. But APBT decided to appeal the case, saying the terms of the loan were reached amid controversy and should be nullified.
Taiwan least optimistic: poll
Taiwanese expressed the weakest sentiment in an Asia-Pacific survey released by MasterCard Worldwide yesterday.
Among the 13 markets polled, Taiwan scored the lowest at 35.6, compared with the region's average of 67.9, the biannual report said.
Vietnam, with a high score of 91.3, continues to top the 13 markets as the most bullish country for the six months ahead.
It was followed by Hong Kong at 84.7 and China at 84, the report said. Australia and Malaysia showed the biggest jumps in levels of consumer optimism.
"Consumer confidence in the region is very bullish on the whole, especially because of China's continued strong growth," said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong (王月魂), a Singapore-based economic adviser for MasterCard Asia-Pacific.
"However, consumer sentiments may be affected in the future by some near-term factors around the world such as potentially higher inflation, slower growth in the US and rising geopolitical tension," he said.
The survey interviewed 5,407 people across the Asia-Pacific region between May 2 and May 31 to poll their responses on employment, economy, regular income, stock market and quality of life.
VIA preparing for lawsuit
Chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) yesterday said it had not received any legal notification about the patent infringement lawsuit filed by US chipmaker OPTI Inc, and that it would take legal steps to counter the accusation later.
VIA said it would take measures to safeguard the interest of the company and its customers if it found the accusation to be untrue, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
VIA's comment came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that OPTI had filed a complaint in a US court earlier this month accusing VIA and seven other chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom Corp, of illegally using two US patents held by OPTI.
Thai electronics fair planned
The semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) is organizing a show for electronic products in Bangkok in a drive to assist Taiwanese businesses to make inroads into Thai markets, a TAITRA spokesman said yesterday.
The fair is scheduled for July 26 to 29 this year.
NT dollar shows weekly loss
The New Taiwan dollar had a weekly loss on speculation that the nation's investors bought higher-yielding assets overseas and oil companies would need more US dollars to pay for imports.
The NT dollar fell NT$0.002 to close at NT$32.809 against the US currency on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$810 million.
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],”