HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s fifth-largest smartphone maker, has begun selling a smartphone in Chongqing, China, that enables mobile payments using near field communication (NFC) technology, aiming to gain a foothold in the fast-growing mobile banking market.
The “Jiang Yu banking” phone, priced at 4,680 yuan (US$732), allows remote bill payments and contactless payments.
The HTC phone went on sale last week through the Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank (重慶農村商業銀行) in Sichuan Province, a recent statement from the bank showed.
The bank’s customers can also use the smartphone like a digital wallet to pay for mass transportation in Chongqing, as well as at point-of-sale (POS) machines in designated department stores, restaurants, supermarkets and movie theaters.
The number of these POS machines in Chongqing will increase to more than 9,000 by the end of this year, the Hong Kong-listed bank said.
The Economic Observer quoted Dennis Chen (陳敬宏), head of the Asia and China Enterprise Department of HTC, as saying that HTC had confidence in its products and “will launch similar phones with more banks.”
The move came after HTC unveiled a four-inch “HTC Stunning” smartphone last month with China UnionPay Co (中國銀聯), China’s only credit card network.
The Android-powered HTC Stunning can be used to make NFC payments at 345,000 POS machines in China as of June 30, and these machines are likely to increase to 700,000 by the end of this year.
Chinese mobile banking service subscribers have exceeded 7 million during the first half, with total trading volume growing 238 percent year-on-year to 709,000 entries and total transaction amount up 574 percent to 44.9 billion yuan, according to China-based IIMEDIA Research.
Shares of HTC tumbled 6.04 percent to NT$638 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS