■ ELECTRONIES
LCD shipments to rise
The nation's liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TV shipments are expected to increase more than 20 percent next year, with 32 inches remaining the most popular TV module size, the Institute for the Information Industry forecast yesterday. Taiwan's LCD TV shipments have risen 73 percent to approximately 794,000 units this year, with 32-inch products accounting for 53.8 percent of the shipments, the institute said. The shipments are expected to leap another 23.4 percent to 980,000 units next year, as a result of suppliers' efforts to cut prices, it said.
■ COFFEE
Starbucks loses lawsuit
The Taipei High Administrative Court has rejected a claim by Starbucks that a local coffee chain infringed on its trademark rights by using a similar logo, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday. The court said that E-Coffee's (壹咖啡) logo featuring a cup of steaming coffee is not similar to the female icon with a crown on her head in the Starbucks trademark. The report, which did not specify when the ruling was made, said the court believed the two logos would not confuse consumers. Starbucks first filed the trademark infringement suit against E-Coffee in October 2004 to the government's Intellectual Property Office.
■ REAL ESTATE
Shin Kong sells building
Shin Kong Bank (新光銀行) has sold a 14-story office building to a consortium composed of Tatien Co (德先), Mayer Steel Pipe Corp (美雅鋼管) and TFMI Asset Management Co (台產資產管理) for NT$7.3 billion (US$224.8 million), according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday evening. The consortium has agreed to pay 15 percent of the amount as a downpayment, while borrowing the remaining 85 percent from Shin Kong Bank, the filing said. The building, located on Minsheng E. Road in Taipei City, has a total floor space of 14,325.14 ping (47,356m2) and a 1,539.97 ping lot. Shin Kong said it expected to book a profit of NT$2.71 billion from the deal.
■ STEEL
China to up export tariffs
China will raise export tariffs on some steel products from Jan. 1 to help rein in a record trade surplus and reduce energy consumption and pollution. It didn't give details on new tax rates. Beijing will also impose export tariffs on coal, crude oil and metal ores next year, the Ministry of Finance said late yesterday. Export duties on hot-rolled coil and so-called long products will be raised to 15 percent from between 5 percent and 10 percent, the China Securities Journal reported on Dec. 21, without saying where it obtained the information. Tariffs on semi-finished products, billets and pig iron will be raised to 25 percent from 15 percent.
■ PACKAGING
Alcoa sells operations
Alcoa Inc said it has agreed to sell its packaging and consumer businesses to the Rank Group Ltd of New Zealand for US$2.7 billion. The cash deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, Alcoa said on Friday. Alcoa's packaging and consumer businesses generated about US$3.2 billion in revenue and US$95 million in after-tax operating income last year, representing about 10 percent of Alcoa's revenue and 3 percent of its after-tax operating income. The Alcoa businesses being sold employ about 10,000 workers in 22 countries.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six