Optimax Technology Corp (力特光電), the nation's largest maker of polarizing films that are a central component of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) technology, yesterday saw its share prices close limit-down after it reportedly rejected a buyout by LG Chem Ltd of South Korea.
The Taoyuan-based company dismissed the Chinese-language Economic Daily News report as “media speculation” in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, where its shares closed at NT$13.25.
The South Korean company, the world’s third-largest supplier of polarizing films, also rebutted the report, calling it “groundless,” Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing LG Chem spokeswoman Tracey Park.
“We have not considered buying the Taiwanese company,” Park said.
If an Optimax Technology-LG Chem alliance were in the books, it would likely pose a challenge to Osaka-based Nitto Denko Corp’s No. 1 position in the polarizing film market, the Economic Daily News reported.
The news also followed an announcement by LG Display Co, another LG Group subsidiary, on March 26 that it was considering an alliance with AmTRAN Technology Co (瑞軒科技), a Taipei-based assembler of LCD televisions, to strengthen its position in the LCD market.
Optimax Technology is currently working on a NT$2.5 billion (US$82 million) private placement, a proposal passed by the company’s board last month in a bid to lure potential strategic investors, company spokesperson Julia Lee (李心英) said.
Lee said Optimax Technology had conducted talks with several potential investors, as the company wants to improve its competitiveness in the polarizing film market. She declined to specify the names of the potential investors and said no final decision had been reached on the private placement deal.
But the newspaper said that potential investors include LG Chem, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) and Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), without citing where it obtained the information.
James Wu (巫俊毅), financial executive of Chunghwa Picture Tubes, said in a stock exchange filing yesterday that the company was interested in forming a partnership with any upstream or downstream manufacturer, but had closed no deals as yet.
Optimax Technology’s products are used in various applications, including electronic watches, cellular phones, laptops, desktop LCD monitors, digital cameras, portable DVDs, automation control panels and public inquiry systems.
With rising inventories, the company reported a net loss of NT$327 million (or NT$0.65 per share) in the first three months of the year, compared with a net loss of NT$450 million (or NT$0.89 per share) a year earlier. For last year it reported a net loss of NT$2.11 billion (or NT$4.17 per share).
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
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day