■ TAIWAN
Private investment slows
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said on Friday that private investment could reach NT$800 billion (US$24.8 billion) this year, falling short of the government’s target by about 20 percent. The administration had set a target of NT$1.001 trillion for new private investment this year, Shih said at a meeting aimed at expanding investment organized by the ministry. Citing figures compiled by the Industrial Development Bureau, Shih said that as of the end of last month, a total of 968 new investment projects worth NT$459.8 billion had been initiated this year. Shih attributed the lag to investor caution because of the global financial crisis.
■TRADE
Nations to discuss piracy
The next round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations will be held in South Korea from Nov. 4 to Nov. 6, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said on Friday. The USTR, in a statement, said the talks would cover “enforcement procedures in the digital environment, criminal procedures to deal with counterfeiting and piracy and transparency issues.” The US has been working with Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland to hammer out an agreement.
■INTERNET
Twitter seeks translators
Twitter, the fast-growing micro-blogging service, is seeking volunteer French, German, Italian and Spanish translators to render its Web site into other languages. Twitter.com is currently only offered in English or Japanese. Biz Stone, a co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup, posted the notice in a blog post on Friday.
■ENERGY
EDF stake approved
US regulators have approved a plan for French-based EDF to take a stake in Constellation Energy Group, clearing a key hurdle for a new nuclear power plant in Maryland, the companies said on Friday. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission “has approved the investment structure and license transfer” related to EDF’s acquisition of 49.99 percent of Constellation Energy’s nuclear assets, a joint statement said. The investment was previously reported to cost US$4.5 billion.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
National CEO to retire
National Semiconductor Corp’s Brian Halla will retire as chief executive officer, passing the job to his deputy, chief operating officer Don Macleod said. Halla, 63, will step down on Nov. 30, remaining as chairman, the Santa Clara, California-based company said on Friday. He plans to retire from the board on May 30. Macleod, 61, worked his way up through various sales, marketing and finance jobs. He joined National in 1978. During his tenure, Halla refocused National on analog chips, particularly those that control power in electronic devices.
■TELECOMS
Stylish phone unveiled
Samsung Electronics Co, Asia’s biggest mobile-phone maker, fashion-house Giorgio Armani SpA and Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest software maker, unveiled a smartphone on Friday, promising it would be a “style statement.” The phone with a price tag of 700 euros (US$1,033) is a touch-screen, bronze-colored device, personally designed by Giorgio Armani. It includes Windows Mobile 6.5 and “cutting-edge technology” from Samsung, the companies said at a presentation in Milan.
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