TAIEX shares down slightly
Share prices closed down 0.29 percent yesterday on mild profit taking after a strong showing in the previous session, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 22.88 points to 7,612.68, after moving between 7,610.62 and 7,639.66, on turnover of NT$76.55 billion (US$2.41 billion).
The market opened down 0.06 percent and continued to move lower as investors took hints from a lackluster performance on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
A total of 1,427 stocks closed down, 1,364 rose and 441 stocks remained unchanged.
ITRI touts navigation software
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday said it had successfully developed software that will help cyclists navigate their routes with enhanced security.
ITRI has devised a software application that offers GPS, Google Maps and handset features, which cyclists can download into their mobile devices, or send to bicycle makers to incorporate into their bikes, according to a statement.
With the solution, cyclists are able to keep track of the positions of their peers during their cycling trip, therefore ensuring the team’s safety in case someone detours or gets lost.
The project was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs at the beginning of this year. ITRI said the software is now commercially mature for deployment and it is currently in talks with bicycle makers such as Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) for possible partnership.
Vice minister visits Detroit
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) is visiting Detroit as head of a 60-member electric vehicle industry delegation.
The main purpose of Hwang’s trip has been to preside over the opening of the two-day Taiwan Automotive International Forum and Exhibition 2010 in the US city, which began on Monday, according to a statement released that day by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago.
The trade show brought together 28 automakers and suppliers from Taiwan, with 49 innovative products and 59 Taiwan-developed technologies on display.
TSMC plans solar cell plant
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest maker of chips designed by other companies, plans to build a solar cell plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), spokesman Tzeng Jin-hao (曾晉皓) said by phone yesterday, confirming a report by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News earlier yesterday.
Tzeng declined to comment on investment value or when the plant would start production.
Fubon Securities chairman quits
The board of Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) is slated to approve the resignation of its chairman David Chang (張果軍) on Friday, the securities firm confirmed in an exchange filing yesterday in response to a media report.
Chang will remain as an adviser to parent Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) although his resignation at the subsidiary will take effect on the same day, following a board approval, it added.
Due to his own career plans and choice for a flexible working schedule, Chang tendered his resignation, the firm’s filing said, shrugging off speculation that he was at odds with the next chairman, Gordon Yeh (葉公亮).
NT dollar sheds NT$0.095
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.095 to close at the day’s low of NT$32.094.
Turnover totaled US$814 million during the trading session.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks