MICROCHIPS
Three-way alliance nears
Japanese microchip maker Elpida Memory Inc is in final talks to form a three-way business tie-up with Micron Technology Inc of the US and Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), a report said yesterday. The alliance would have a 28 percent share of the global market for DRAM chips, the second-largest following Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea, which has a 45 percent share, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Through the tie-up with Micron, which is also a leading maker of NAND flash memory, the Japanese firm would be able to widen its product line, while the partnership with Nanya would help it cut manufacturing costs, the Nikkei Shimbun reported at the weekend.
VIDEO GAMES
Taipei show starts on Feb. 2
The annual video game exhibition in Taipei will be held this year right after the Lunar New Year holiday at a bigger and more popular venue to accommodate a growing number of exhibitors and game enthusiasts. The Taipei Computer Association (TCA), which is organizing the event, has decided to move it to the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall. The products on display will range from online and PC games to smartphone applications and toy models, TCA said. The show will run from Feb. 2 to 6 and is expected to attract 300,000 visitors.
INTERNET
Google ‘thrives’ in China
Google Inc’s business in China is growing and “continues to thrive” amid demand for advertising services in the world’s most populous country, said Daniel Alegre, president of the company’s Asia-Pacific operations. Google ran afoul of Chinese authorities in 2010 for refusing to abide by local censorship rules and began redirecting users to pages in Hong Kong. Still, the company is focusing on products that are “non-sensitive” in China’s market, Alegre said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Google is seeing strong demand for advertising with its mobile and desktop services, he said. “We never left China, and we continue to believe in the market,” Alegre said.
AVIATION
Australia sues AirAsia
AirAsia was yesterday slapped with a lawsuit by Australian regulators accusing the Asian budget carrier of failing to disclose the full price of fares on its Web site. The Malaysia-based airline, which flies international services out of Australia from the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth, with Sydney to be added from April, was named in documents lodged at the Federal Court in Melbourne. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the country’s consumer watchdog, claims some fares sold on AirAsia’s Web site do not display prices inclusive of all taxes, duties and fees.
STEEL
Global production up 6.8%
World steel production rose 6.8 percent last year to a record 1.527 billion metric tonnes, the World Steel Assocation said. Growth was 8.9 percent in China, 7.1 percent in the US, 1 percent in Germany, 5.7 percent in India and 17 percent in Turkey, the Brussels-based group said in a report on its Web site on Monday. Japan fell 1.8 percent, it said.
ELECTRICITY
S Korea sales growth slows
Electricity sales in South Korea rose 4.8 percent by volume last year to 455.1 billion kilowatt hours, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement. The increase compares with a rise of 10.1 percent in 2010, the statement said.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Kodak replaces restructurer
Eastman Kodak Co replaced its chief restructuring officer on Monday in a surprise move coming just days after it filed for bankruptcy protection. James Mesterharm, who works for the consultancy firm AlixPartners and was chief restructuring officer for Parmalat USA during the dairy company’s bankruptcy, will replace Dominic DiNapoli of FTI Consulting Inc, who was chosen last week. Kodak said in a statement that there was no “disagreement or difference of opinion” with DiNapoli and provided no further explanation for the change. The company also said FTI would continue to work alongside AlixPartners on certain matters during the bankruptcy.
HOUSEWARES
Macy’s sues Stewart firm
Macy’s Inc has sued Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc in a bid to block a licensing deal between the housewares company and J.C. Penney Co. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in New York State Supreme Court. Macy’s claims Martha Stewart Living’s deal with J.C. Penney violates the terms of an exclusive pact Macy’s has to sell Martha Stewart Living products at its stores. The complaint comes after J.C. Penney acquired a 16.6 percent stake in Martha Stewart Living and announced plans last month to open mini-Martha Stewart shops inside most of its stores, beginning next year.
PETROLEUM
Kuwait, Total reach deal
Kuwait Petroleum Corp has reached a deal with France’s Total to be a partner in a Kuwait-China refinery joint venture, the Kuwaiti oil minister was quoted as saying yesterday. Mohammad al-Baseeri said the deal was struck after Shell withdrew from talks in the US$9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex, Al-Jarida newspaper reported. KPC’s international arm, Kuwait Petroleum International, and China’s state-owned Sinpec (中國石化) signed an agreement more than two years ago to build the complex in Guangdong Province. Baseeri said the project is expected to come onstream in 2014 or 2015.
COFFEE
Starbucks to sell beer, wine
Starbucks Corp, which sells the coffee that helps many Americans get wound up for their day, is now offering some a way to wind down. The company plans to begin selling beer and wine in a small number of cafes in Atlanta and southern California by the end of this year as it explores an expansion beyond morning coffee and afternoon pick-me-ups. Starbucks is planning to add the alcoholic drinks and food such as savory snacks, cheese plates and hot flatbreads to menus in four to six outlets in each market. The company also is testing wine and beer sales in Spain.
INTERNET
YouTube uploads soar
YouTube said on Monday that 60 hours of video are being uploaded every minute to the video-sharing site and it is attracting more than 4 billion views a day. “In 2007 we started at six hours, then in 2010 we were at 24 hours, then 35, then 48,” the Google-owned YouTube said in a blog post. “And now ... 60 hours of video every minute, an increase of more than 30 percent in the last eight months,” YouTube said. “In other words, you’re uploading one hour of video to YouTube every second,” it said. YouTube also said it has exceeded 4 billion video views a day, up 25 percent in the past eight months.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to