■LCD PANELS
AU Optronics wins case
Four LG Display Co patents for flat-panel televisions and computer displays were not infringed by Taiwan-based AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and are valid, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The decision came as part of a series of claims and counterclaims in which Seoul-based LG contended AU and another Taiwanese electronics firm, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), infringed its patents. LG failed “to establish infringement by a preponderance of the evidence,” and AU “has not established invalidity,” District Judge Joseph Farnan Jr wrote in a 69-page opinion released in Wilmington, Delaware.
■MANUFACTURING
Chinese activity accelerates
China’s manufacturing activity accelerated last month, as the purchasing managers index rose to 55.7, marking the 14th straight month of expansion, a government survey showed yesterday. Last month’s figure compares with 55.1 in March. A reading above 50 means the sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates an overall decline. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing warned of increasing inflationary expectations after input prices continued to rise last month.
■TRADE
S Korean surplus grows
South Korea’s trade surplus grew last month as exports continued to benefit from surging overseas demand, the government said yesterday. Exports jumped 31.5 percent from a year earlier to US$39.876 billion last month, while imports came in at US$35.466 billion, up 42.6 percent, the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy said. Last month’s trade surplus stood at US$4.41 billion, up from the March trade surplus of a revised US$1.8 billion.
■AVIATION
US airlines iron out deal
Continental Airlines Inc and UAL Corp’s United Airlines have ironed out the last remaining wrinkle in their merger talks, paving the way for a deal that would create the world’s largest carrier, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The airlines have agreed to an exchange ratio of 1.05 UAL shares for each Continental share in all-stock deal yet to be approved by the companies’ boards, the sources said.
■INTERNET
Google, Berlin agree deal
Germany said on Friday that Google had agreed to address thorny privacy concerns before launching its Street View navigation service in the country, ending a row between the firm and Berlin. Google “has agreed to start its new ‘Street View’ service only when all the objections raised by citizens have been fully taken into account,” German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner said in a statement after talks with the Internet firm. Street View, already available for cities in Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and some parts of Europe, allows users to view on the Web panoramic still photos at street level.
■INTERNET
Kindle update released
Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle e-reader is getting access to Facebook and Twitter, along with several other enhancements, as part of a software update being sent wirelessly to the devices. In a posting on Amazon’s Web site, the company says the new software would let users share book passages on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The update would also let people sort books and documents into collections and lock their Kindle with a password. There would also be larger font options and the ability to zoom in on PDF documents.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is