TSMC ups stake in Vanguard
The world's biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said its board had approved plans to buy an additional 11 percent stake in local chipmaker Vanguard Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) in a deal worth up to NT$5.55 billion (US$168 million), or NT$29.7 per share via bloc trade.
After the transaction, TSMC's stake in Vanguard will rise to 37.8 percent from 26.8 percent.
"The planned transaction will strengthen our business alliance with Vanguard and is part of our 8 inch wafer strategy," TSMC chief financial executive Lora Ho (何麗玫) said in a statement.
TSMC has said it would increase its capacity for making 8-inch wafers to meet demand.
Future purchases of shares in Vanguard would depend on the share price and outlook for the semiconductor industry, Ho said.
EVA adds another Boeing jet
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) said yesterday it had taken delivery of a new Boeing 777-300ER jet to expand its fleet.
The aircraft, the seventh of its kind at the airline, will serve on its Taipei to Los Angeles, California, route, the carrier said in a statement yesterday.
The company is scheduled to receive another B777 later this year and plans to add a total of 15 B777-300ER aircraft to its fleet by 2010, the statement said.
US wheat shipment under way
The Taiwan Flour Millers Association, which represents 34 grain users, bought 46,000 tonnes of US No. 1 wheat from trading house Mitsui & Co in a tender yesterday after the government temporarily loosened pesticide regulations.
The shipment will arrive in October and prices are on a free-on-board basis from the Columbia River District, including Portland, the association said.
The association originally planned to buy 92,000 tonnes of US wheat in two shipments. It decided not to buy the second shipment because prices were "too high," Huang Ching-ho (黃錦和), secretary-general of the industry group, said in Taipei.
Taiwan did not buy 92,000 tonnes of US wheat in an Aug. 21 tender as no suppliers made offers, as a result of concern that shipments would be rejected because of Taiwan's pesticide rules.
M2 supply increases 4.65%
The nation's M2 money supply posted an increase of 4.65 percent last month, the central bank said yesterday in an online statement.
The central bank attributed the increase in M2, the broadest measure of the nation's money supply, to active trading on the stock market and steady growth in bank loans and investment.
Macronix extends IBM deal
Memory semiconductor maker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) said yesterday it extended a three-year agreement with IBM Corp to develop chips used to store data in consumer electronics devices.
The agreement became effective on July 22 and ends on Jan. 21, 2010, Hsinchu-based Macronix said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that didn't disclose financial terms.
NT dollar remains weak
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday remained weak against its US counterpart on continued foreign capital outflows and US dollar demand by oil firms, dealers said.
The NT dollar traded NT$0.035 lower at NT$32.98 on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$590 million. The currency declined 0.2 percent this week.
Foreign fund managers yesterday sold a net of NT$5.98 billion (US$181.5 million) worth of Taiwan stocks, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's data showed.
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],”