ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s most unprofitable memory chipmaker, said it was in talks with Taiwan Memory Co (TMC, 台灣記憶體公司) and other “strategic partners” about jointly producing dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.
The chipmaker plans to use its fab in Taichung to make DRAM chips, chairman Chen Min-liang (陳民良) said yesterday at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu, where ProMOS is based.
The nation’s No. 3 PC memory chipmaker also said it planned to use its Hsinchu fab to make non-mainstream DRAM products.
TMC is the company being formed by the government to reorganize Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. John Hsuan (宣明智), appointed to oversee the formation of the company after chipmakers posted record losses, said in April the venture would work with Elpida Memory Inc of Japan and seek tie-ups with local chipmakers.
Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said last week the government venture could acquire local chipmakers next year after it is officially formed in September.
ProMOS will lay off 550 workers as it plans to idle a plant in Taichung, spokesman and vice president Ben Tseng (曾邦助) said on June 11.
The chipmaker had 5,800 employees as of the end of March 31, its latest stock exchange filing showed.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last