ELECTRONICS
Sony to develop game phone
Sony Corp’s phone venture with Ericsson AB signaled it is developing a smartphone with a slide-out controller designed to play games, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an interview with the head of the venture. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB chief executive Bert Nordberg said he’s aware of speculation about a new product that would take advantage of Sony’s experience in developing its portable game device, the report said.
DAIRY
Yoplait fights for Nestle
The head of French dairy food company Yoplait said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that Swiss food giant Nestle would make an “ideal” partner, with major investment planned in China and India. Yoplait, the world’s second-biggest dairy food producer, is in the midst of a battle to take over a 50 percent stake in the company that investment group PAI wants to sell. Chief executive Lucien Fa told the newspaper Le Matin Dimanche that he wanted to break with the company’s franchise system and take greater control of operations in local markets.
AUTOMOTIVE
Nissan eyes US dollars
Japanese auto giant Nissan wants to move production and support functions to US dollar-linked economies, including the US and China, to avoid currency volatility, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who also heads France’s Renault, said the company wanted to correct a “big imbalance” in its costs and revenues due to making cars in Japan that are then sold in the US and dollar-linked economies in Asia.
EXCHANGES
Bourse to stop floor trading
Deutsche Boerse AG plans to stop floor trading by the end of May next year, the Financial Times Deutschland reported. The operator of the Frankfurt exchange is likely to fully switch to Xetra electronic trading “earlier than planned,” the German newspaper reported. Deutsche Boerse previously expected to complete the change in March 2012, FTD said.
TRADE
China signs Botswana deals
A delegation led by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) signed several agreements with Botswana on Sunday to further strengthen ties between the two countries. The two signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation with a grant of about US$6 million, as well as other accords on infrastructure and energy development. Xi was expected to leave Gaborone yesterday morning after visiting Botswana Diamond Trading Company (DTCB). DTCB is a 50/50 joint venture partnership between Botswana and De Beers. It is the world’s largest diamond sorting and valuing operation.
TELECOMS
Firms forced to apologize
Two of China’s leading Internet firms have been forced by the government to issue public apologies over a nasty spat marked by accusations of unfair market practices and privacy infringement. Tencent (騰訊), parent company of the popular instant messaging service QQ, and security software developer Qihoo 360 (奇虎360) issued the apologies late on Sunday after being ordered to do so by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The public feud began in September when Tencent encouraged users to download its upgraded security software. Qihoo 360 subsequently accused QQ of trying to scan its users’ personal data and it issued tools to block QQ components.
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