■ ELECTRONICS
Compal to sell Himax shares
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, plans to sell 3.42 million shares in Himax Technologies Inc (奇景光電). Compal's board approved the plan on Friday, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The sale may be valued at NT$509 million (US$15.4 million) based on Compal's planned asking minimum price of NT$149 per share, the company said. Compal may book a loss as much as NT$206.9 million from the planned sale, the company said in the filing. Himax, based in Tainan, designs semiconductors used in flat-panel displays. Its US depositary shares trade on the NASDAQ stock market.
■ INVESTMENT
China to boost outflows
China will adjust its financial policies to fund domestic companies and financial institutions' outbound investment and increase foreign-exchange outflows, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) said. "China's financial policies to support companies to invest abroad are not sufficient, and the central bank is vigorously working on it," Zhou said yesterday at an investment forum in Xiamen City. "More adjustment will be made to the current foreign-exchange policies that encourage currency inflows, while limiting outflows," Zhou said, adding that his bank would further develop the foreign-exchange market to help companies hedge currency risks and simplify procedures for companies investing outside China.
■ TELECOMS
Glitch snags BlackBerry mail
A software glitch shut down e-mail service for some BlackBerry users on Friday, and delays were still being felt hours after the problem was fixed. Research in Motion Ltd, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company that makes the ubiquitous mobile device, said no e-mails were lost in the shutdown on Friday that affected an unspecified number of customers in North America who subscribe to the BlackBerry Internet Service. Phone service and text messaging were unaffected. The company did not provide an estimate of when service would return to normal and did not specify the software problem.
■ CREDIT
US reviews rating agencies
US federal regulators said on Friday they were reviewing the role credit-rating agencies played in the mortgage debacle for borrowers with weak credit. The Securities and Exchange Commission "has begun a review of credit rating agency policies and procedures," SEC spokesman John Nester said on Friday. That review, he said, would include what ratings mean and whether conflicts of interest were created if rating agencies gave advice to issuers of mortgage debt and originators.
■ BEVERAGES
New Gatorade launched
Pepsi is offering a new low-calorie version of Gatorade in an effort to keep customers who have strayed from the sports drink in search of lower-calorie drinks. PepsiCo, the second-biggest US soft drink company, said in July that its sales of carbonated soft drinks fell 4 percent in the second quarter while non-carbonated drinks grew 3 percent. G2, PepsiCo said, will have 25 calories per 225g serving and is the first new Gatorade product since the original drink was introduced in 1967. The original lemon-lime Gatorade has 50 calories per serving. Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo said it would distribute G2 starting in December.
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],”