■ DISPLAYS
Sharp sues Samsung
Sharp Corp, Japan's biggest maker of liquid-crystal-display televisions, filed a lawsuit yesterday against Samsung Electronics Co, alleging infringement of patents in LCD modules. Sharp is seeking damages and a halt in Samsung's production and sale of LCD TVs and modules in South Korea that infringe on three of its patents, the firm said in an e-mailed statement. The suit, at the Seoul Central District Court, follows a filing by Sharp in the US on Aug. 6 against Samsung, the world's largest liquid-crystal- display maker, and two of its subsidiaries. The patents in the Korean case are for technologies to "achieve high brightness and high-speed response, as well as a wide-viewing angle," Sharp said.
■ BROKERAGES
China to end ban on JVs
China will soon end a ban on foreign investment banks setting up joint ventures, a concession that falls short of US calls for sweeping access to the world's best- performing capital market. The China Securities Regulatory Commission will start accepting applications from "qualified" local brokerages to set up ventures with foreign investors, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday. The regulator will "in a few days" announce rules on relaxing requirements for foreign investors seeking stakes in Chinese partners.
■ CASINOS
Crown to buy Cannery
Crown Ltd, Australia's largest casino company, said yesterday it had agreed to buy privately held Cannery Casino Resorts for US$1.75 billion. Crown, which has a market capitalization of A$9.42 billion (US$8.25 billion), split from James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd earlier this month after investors endorsed a plan to split PBL's gambling assets and media businesses into two separately listed firms. Crown CEO Rowen Craigie said the purchase of Cannery Casino was "strategically and financially compelling" for the company, which has acquired businesses in Canada, the US and Macau amid competition concerns in its home territory. The deal still needs regulatory approval in the US.
■ SEMICONDUCTORS
Infineon sets sales target
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker, expects sales growth of as much as 10 percent for fiscal 2008 compared with the prior year, excluding its memory-chip unit Qimonda AG. For fiscal 2009, the company forecast an earnings before interest and taxes margin, before extraordinary items and excluding Qimonda, of about 10 percent, the company said in its annual regulatory filing on Tuesday. Infineon last month said its fiscal fourth-quarter loss swelled to US$410 million after prices at its Qimonda division fell. CEO Wolfgang Ziebart plans to reduce the stake in the unit to "significantly" less than 50 percent by Infineon's annual meeting in 2009.
■ FASHION
Men's wear auction held
A first-off auction of "vintage" designer wear for men at Paris' Drouot auction house fetched a higher-than-expected 134,200 euros (US$197,200) on Tuesday. While vintage womens-wear sales are frequent, the sale of 485 items of clothing and accessories made by some of Europe's top couturiers between 1960 and 2000 was a first in Paris. The bestseller was a 1992 autumn-winter woolen gabardine jacket designed by Jean Paul Gaultier that went for 7,930 euros, the auctioneers said.
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],”