Gateway CEO to step down
Acer Inc, the world's fourth-largest computer maker, yesterday said that Ed Coleman, chief executive of newly acquired Gateway Inc, had offered his resignation.
Coleman would leave the Taiwanese computer company at the end of January, Acer said in a statement.
At the same time, Acer appointed Rudi Schmidleithner, who has been heading the Acer Pan America Organization since 2004, to fill Coleman's vacancy.
Schmildleithner will be responsible for completing the integration programs between Acer and Gateway.
Coleman joined Gateway as CEO in September last year and successfully led the company through a very challenging period of intense competition, the preparations for and eventual sale of the company.
Hsinchu Science Park inks MOU
The Hsinchu Science Park Administration (HSPA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Yokosuka Research Park (YRP) in Japan to promote exchanges and cooperation in technological fields, HSPA Director Huang Te-jui (黃得瑞) said yesterday.
Huang and Shigo Ohmori, a YRP representative, signed the document on Thursday at the Hsinchu park office.
The signing ceremony was held alongside a celebration marking the HSPA's 27th founding anniversary.
Huang said that the document was signed with the aim of promoting cooperation and exchanges between the HSPA and the YRP in various scientific fields, including technological research.
The HSPA has grown to become one of the world's most significant areas for semiconductor manufacturing, while the YRP is the world's first ever international hub dedicated to research in mobile communications.
Danone offers deal to Wahaha
French food and drink maker Danone said yesterday it was willing to suspend legal action against its Chinese joint venture partner if the partner showed "concrete action" to reunify their group.
The offer from Emmanuel Faber, president of Danone Asia Pacific Group, comes after the partner, Wahaha Group (娃哈哈集團), won an arbitration ruling allowing it to use the popular Wahaha brand name outside of the 39 joint ventures operated by the two.
There needs to be "an appropriate process of negotiations with what we believe is an appropriate platform for an agreement. It would be held with appropriate guidance from authorities," Faber told a news conference.
OPEC raises 2008 estimate
OPEC yesterday raised its estimate for world oil demand growth next year, owing to fast-growing demand for transport and industrial fuel, but kept unchanged its forecast for world oil demand this year.
"The coming holiday season is keeping the kerosene jet fuel demand healthy worldwide," the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its December monthly report.
"Total world oil demand growth in 2007 is forecast at 1.2 million bpd [barrels per day] or 1.42 percent," the report said.
Nevertheless, world oil demand next year was projected to rise by 1.3 million barrels per day or 1.54 percent next year.
The International Energy Agency yesterday raised its forecast for oil demand for next year by 115,000 barrels per day citing demand from emerging economies
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.016 to close at NT$32.376.
A total of US$1.01 billion changed hands during trading.
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],”