HTC wins GSMA award
Local smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) was named on Thursday as Device Manufacturer of the Year by GSM Association (GSMA), a top award in the global mobile communications industry.
HTC beat out two other finalists, Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, to take the top honor in the device manufacturer category at this year’s Global Mobile Awards ceremony in Barcelona, Spain.
“HTC has built its market presence from nowhere, with fresh branding and marketing and a strong portfolio of devices across many platforms,” the GSMA judges said on the awards’ Web site. “In particular, it has proven an exceptionally popular and enduring phone manufacturer.”
The judges also said that the HTC Desire smartphone “set the bar for Android phones across much of the world in 2010.”
This is the second straight year HTC has picked up a major GSMA award. Last year, its Hero model was named Best Mobile Phone.
Elpida sell NT$4.26bn in TDRs
Elpida Memory Inc, the world’s third-largest maker of computer-memory chips, has sold NT$4.26 billion (US$145 million) of Taiwan depositary receipts (TDR) to fund research and development.
The Tokyo-based chipmaker sold the securities for NT$21.30 each, according to a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. The company had set the pricing range at NT$19.50 to NT$26.00 earlier this month.
The listing in Taiwan, where the chipmaker has a joint venture and outsourcing agreements with Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技), may deepen alliances with local firms, Elpida president Yukio Sakamoto said in October.
Elpida said last month it is close to a deal with Powerchip that would make the Taiwanese manufacturer an exclusive supplier.
Twenty TDRs represent one common share of Elpida. The TDRs will start trading on Friday. Elpida fell 5.3 percent to ¥1,254 (US$15.04) in Tokyo on Thursday.
Fubon, Najing Zijin team up
Fubon Financial Holding Co’s (富邦金控) life and property insurance units signed an agreement with Nanjing Zijin Investment Holding Co (紫金控股) to jointly set up a life insurance company in China, -Taipei-based Fubon Financial said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) plans to invest 320 million yuan (US$48.67 million) in the venture with Nanjing Zijin Investment, while Fubon Property and Casualty Insurance Co (富邦產險) plans to invest 80 million yuan, the parent company said in an exchange statement on Dec. 10.
Chimei buys new equipment
Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) bought NT$763 million of equipment from Applied Materials South East Asia PTE, the panel maker said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
Central bank issues CDs
The central bank issued NT$163.5 billion in certificates of deposit (CD) yesterday, more than the NT$160.8 billion that matured, the bank said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
The bank sold 30-day certificates at 0.74 percent, 91-day at 0.78 percent and 182-day at 0.88 percent, according to the statement.
NT rises against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar ended up NT$0.024 at NT$29.408 against the US dollar after touching a one-month low of NT$29.52 on Monday as global investors sold shares.
Foreigners bought US$434 million more local stocks than they sold yesterday, ending a seven-day run of net sales that slashed their holdings by US$2.68 billion, exchange data showed.
Agencies
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