Shares slide on S&P move
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index made a pullback yesterday, snapping a two-day winning streak, over renewed concerns over the debt problems in the eurozone after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the credit ratings on 37 of the largest banks in the world, dealers said.
The S&P downgrades prompted investors to dump local financial stocks amid fears that the current financial turmoil would further squeeze the global financial sector’s bottom line, while the spikes in the government bond yields in Italy raised concerns over the escalating debt crisis, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 84.53 points or 1.21 percent at 6,904.12, after moving between 6,860.05 and 7,001.59, on turnover of NT$93.87 billion (US$3.09 billion).
First, Century pact possible
First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), the banking unit of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控 ), writedowns NT$303 million for ProMOS Technologies Inc’s (茂德科技) overseas convertible bonds, First Financial said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Separately, First Securities Inc (第一金證券) plans to sign a cooperation agreement with China’s Century Securities Co (世紀證券) after getting regulatory approval, First Financial said in a separate exchange statement.
Acer wins Australia deal
PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said it has won a Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) tender to supply 65,000 3G notebook computers for round three of the National Secondary School Computer Fund by the end of this year, according to a company statement.
“The rollout of high-end, 3G laptops has never been done before in Australia, let alone on this scale,” David O’Hagan, chief information officer at the DET, said in Acer’s statement.
Fujimi building R&D center
Fujimi Inc, the world’s No. 3 supplier of chemical-mechanical polishing slurry used in chip manufacturing, is set to start construction of a production line and a research and development (R&D) center in Hsinchu Science Park today.
Fujimi planned to invest NT$1 billion in the three years to 2013, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan would be Fujimi’s first research center outside Japan, as the Fujimi’s Web site indicates that it operates only one in Kakamigahara in Japan’s Gifu Prefecture.
Eee Transformer wins award
The Eee Pad Transformer produced by Taiwan-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) has taken the product of the year title at this year’s TrustedReviews awards, a UK Web site that provides expert reviews of the latest consumer electronics, IT and computing products.
In addition, the Transformer, a lightweight laptop that features a removable keyboard, beat Apple Inc’s MacBook Pro 15-inch and the iPad 2 to win the laptop of the year and tablet of the year awards.
TrustedReviews said the 16-hour battery life, stable operation and flexibility of the device were the winning features. Last month, it was also named tablet of the year by T3, another gadget Web site.
NT dollar in third-day rise
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US currency yesterday, adding NT$0.067 to close at NT$30.345, as an increase in fund demand from the business sector at the end of the month pushed up the local currency, dealers said.
Further buying by foreign institutional investors on the local bourse also boosted the value of the NT dollar, helping the unit score gains for the third consecutive trading session, they said.
Turnover in the local foreign exchange market totaled US$863 million during the trading session.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day