TAIEX falls after early gains
The TAIEX fell back from early gains yesterday amid cautious sentiment toward the debt crisis in Greece after the Greek parliament began a three-day debate on an austerity program that is needed to secure a bailout package, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 21.30 points, or 0.25 percent, to end the day on 8,478.86, after moving between 8,478.69 and 8,572.62, on turnover of NT$82.65 billion (US$2.85 billion).
Chi Mei adds China distributor
LCD TV and monitor manufacturer Chi Mei Corp (奇美實業) yesterday said it has enlisted a new partner, VST Holdings Ltd (偉仕電腦), a Hong Kong-based IT product distributor, to expand its sales of LED monitors in China.
Chi Mei expects to see its self-branded LED TVs carried in more than 19 Chinese cities, with more than 500 points of sale by the end of the year.
The company, which began selling products in China early this year, is aiming to sell 300,000 monitors in China by December, which would translate to 270 million yuan (US$42 million) in revenues, a company statement said.
Pou Chen halts Vietnam plant
Pou Chen Corp (寶成) said its Vietnamese unit has halted work after a protest by workers for more pay and benefits, according to its statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The management is in talks with workers at Yue Yuen Industrial Ltd’s (裕元工業) plant in Vietnam, the statement said. The incident would not have any major impact on its finances and operations as it has other plants in China and Indonesia, Pou Chen said.
ZTE reaches Brazil deal
China’s ZTE Corp (中興) says it has reached a deal with local companies to start producing tablet computers in Brazil.
The announcement comes after ZTE president Hou Weigui (侯為貴) met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia.
Hou told reporters the Chinese company has sealed partnerships with some Brazilian manufacturers to start producing the tablets in August. They will be sold in Brazil.
He said ZTE is planning to expand in Brazil, with its own manufacturing plant and possibly the installation of broadband Internet networks.
Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) earlier this year announced it would start production in Brazil of Apple Inc’s iPads.
DRAM prices keep falling
Analysis of DRAM contract prices in the second half of this month indicated a downward trend which has continued from the first half of the month, according to DRAMeXchange, a research unit of Taipei-based researcher Trendforce Corp (集邦科技).
The current average contract price for a 2GB of DDR3 memory is US$17.25 and US$33.5 for 4GB, down 5.5 percent and 5.6 percent from the first half respectively, which is expected to result in an 8 percent drop in 2GB contract prices this month.
For the spot market, which was impacted by the dumping of downgraded parts, the price of a DDR3 2GB eTT in the second half of this month plunged more than 20 percent to US$1.35 from US$1.66 in the first half, it said.
DRAMeXchange said that because of tightening by PC contract makers regarding their DRAM purchases, DRAM contract prices are likely to continue to decline next month.
NT dollar up against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against its US counterpart yesterday, adding NT$0.048 to close at NT$28.962.
Turnover totaled US$793 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
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”