MediaTek man changes job
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, yesterday said the head of its handset chip division, Hsu Ji-chang (徐至強), had left his job to serve as a consultant to the company.
The chipmaker said the move, which took effect yesterday, was due to Hsu’s family circumstances, a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
Motech signs wafer contract
Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), one of the nation’s largest solar cell makers, yesterday said it has inked a US$115 million supply contract with local solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) to supply polysilicon wafers.
Green Energy will supply wafers to Motech for three years beginning this month to September, 2013 based on the agreement, according to Motech’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
HTC shares take tumble
Shares of smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) took a hit yesterday amid concerns over glitches in the Windows Phone 7 operating system on which five of the company’s new models will run, dealers said.
HTC closed down 6.87 percent at NT$624.00, the lowest level since Sept. 3, with 12.94 million shares changing hands, while the benchmark weighted index fell 1.76 percent to 8,060.54.
The glitches made investors cautious, dues to fears that the technical problem would affect fourth quarter shipments, TLG Asset Management (台灣保投信) analyst Arch Shih (施博元) said.
While HTC said during the trading session that it was taking action to resolve the problem, selling extended until the end of the session.
China Steel plans purchase
China Steel Corp (中鋼) plans to buy 5 percent of Dongbu Metal Co for 47.8 billion won (US$420 million) from Dongbu HiTek Co, the Kaohsiung-based mill said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
Bank issues certificates
Taiwan’s central bank issued NT$239.7 billion (US$7.7 billion) in certificates of deposit today, less than the NT$240.95 billion that matured, the monetary authority said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Malaysia may review duties
The Malaysian government said it may review anti-dumping duties on imports of polyethylene terephthalate from Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand.
The duties were imposed in 2005, Malaysia’s international trade ministry said in a statement.
UMC purchases equipment
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) bought NT$600 million of equipment from ASML Singapore Pte Ltd from March 11 to yesterday, the firm announced in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
CPC Corp seeks fuel oil cargoes
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) is seeking to buy six fuel oil cargoes of 38,000 tonnes each for delivery between January and December next year, the company said in a notice posted on its Web site.
Share prices close lower
The TAIEX closed down 1.76 percent yesterday as pressure focused on the bellwether electronics sector amid lingering concerns over weakening global demand for high-tech products, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 144.76 points to 8,060.54, after moving between 8,057.12 and 8,209.39, on turnover of NT$113.35 billion (US$3.69 billion).
NT dollar drops
The New Taiwan dollar dropped against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.092 to close at NT$30.885.
Turnover totaled US$876 million during the trading session.
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
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
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