■ INNOVATION
Computex awards planned
The first-ever Computex Taipei design and innovation awards will be presented ahead of Computex Taipei 2008, one of the world’s leading information technology shows in the world, to be held from June 3 to June 7. The winners of the awards, presented by the International Forum Design GmbH (iF), will be announced on June 2, on the eve of the 2008 Computex. The Taiwan External Trade and Development Council (TAITRA), which is organizing the exhibition, said awards will be presented in several categories, including IT products, components and parts, computer systems, computer peripheral equipment, optoelectronic displays and audio and visual equipment. A total of 17 finalists have been chosen from among 143 entries.
■ CHINA
Shanghai to watch sales
Shanghai Stock Exchange, operator of China’s biggest bourse, pledged to crack down on illegal sales of previously locked-up shares to ease investors’ concerns about a flood of stocks entering the market. “Severe punishments will be implemented if holders are found breaching the rules,” Zhang Yujun (張育軍), the exchange’s president, said yesterday at the Lujiazui Financial Forum in Shanghai. The Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges have both found sales that violated regulations, he said. China’s securities regulator last month tightened the rules for the sale of locked-up shares to help revive the country’s stock market, which has plunged 27 percent this year.
■ COMPUTING
Microsoft appeals fine
Microsoft Corp on Friday said it has appealed a US$1.39 billion fine imposed in February by the European Commission for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust order. Spokesman Jack Evans said Microsoft filed an application with the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to annul the Commission’s decision. The fine had marked the tentative end to a long-running fight between the EU and Microsoft, triggered by a 1998 complaint by Sun Microsystems Inc. It alleged Microsoft was refusing to supply information that servers need to work with Windows operating system.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Nissan enters battery deal
Nissan Motor Co and NEC Corp will join forces in the world’s first mass production of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, a newspaper said yesterday. The two companies plan to spend ¥20 billion (US$194 million) to build a plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, the Nikkei Shimbun business daily said. Production will begin early next year under Automotive Energy Supply Corp (AESC), an equally owned joint venture Nissan and NEC established in April of last year, the newspaper said.
■ AVIATION
Boeing to delay orders
Two of Boeing Co’s new 787 jetliner customers, International Lease Finance Corp and Air Canada, disclosed on Thursday that they now expect delivery delays of two years or more, stories published in the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said on Friday. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the parent of ILFC, the biggest customer for the 787 with 74 on order, said its planes will be delayed “an average in excess of 27 months per aircraft and span across ILFC’s entire order.” After reporting earnings, Air Canada said it, too, expects delays of 24 to 30 months. Air Canada has 37 jets on order.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to