Commodity rebates mulled
The government is considering reinstating rebates on import duties paid on raw materials and commodities to help exporters lower their costs of production.
The Ministry of Finance is conducting a feasibility study, it said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. The ministry has also halted plans to cancel rebates on import duties on other types of products.
The Ministry said its statement was issued to clarify a report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday, without giving details.
Citing unidentified Ministry of Finance officials, the Economic Daily News reported yesterday that the government planned to reinstate import tax rebates on as many as 5,721 agricultural and raw materials to help boost exports.
ProMOS sells equipment
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s third-largest computer memory chipmaker, said yesterday it had sold a batch of equipment to local memory chip tester Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) for NT$798 million (US$23.8 million), partly in order to repay debts to Powertech and to obtain cash for operations, according to a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The move came after debt-ridden ProMOS sold some of its equipment to the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), for NT$580 million last week.
MediaTek partners with CTTC
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chipmaker, yesterday said it had formed a partnership with China Telecommunications Technology Labs (CTTC, 中國泰爾實驗室) to jointly develop next-generation mobile technology, mobile content and mobile devices, according to a company statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The announcement came after the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday that MediaTek planned to focus its resources partly on the 3G TD-SCDMA mobile standard that will be adopted in China only.
MTECH launches Muzee
The local market for Internet music and broadcasts will reach US$1 billion by next year, research by Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 資策會) shows. To tap into this exploding market, MTECH Corp (聖藍科技), with assistance from I-Shou University (義守大學), lauched Muzee Internet radio nationwide yesterday.
Through patented technology that eliminates the need for a software download, users must insert a Muzee USB device into their computer to receive 16,000 radio stations worldwide and more than 55 music genres, the company said at a briefing yesterday.
“Muzee is relatively unknown in Taiwan, because previously we have focused on expanding into global markets such as the US, Singapore and Europe to make sure Muzee is successful on the international stage,” MTECH chairman Joe Lin (林宗慶) said yesterday.
Muzee is releasing a limited number of 5,000 units nationwide. The Internet radio device sells for NT$388 which is one-tenth of the retail price abroad.
Nanya postpones construction
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, said yesterday the company would postpone its plan to construct a second 12-inch silicon wafer fab in Taipei County.
The company said the decision was mainly due to a 75 percent fall in the prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips on the world market. Nanya Technology president Lien Jih-chiang (連日昌) said the company would wait until the DRAM market recovers before reconsidering whether to build the plant.
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],”