INTERNET
Facebook tests ID validation
Facebook on Thursday began testing a way for celebrities, journalists, athletes and others with massive followings to have their identities validated at the globally popular online social network. “The new process enables people to verify their identities by submitting a government issued ID,” Facebook said in an e-mail. “Once verified, they’ll also have the option to more prominently display an alternate name (nickname, maiden name, byline, etc) on their timelines in addition to their real name.” The validation option was being rolled out as a minor update to the Subscribe feature at Facebook for people with large numbers of followers. The benefits of confirming people’s identities online have been touted by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s developers conferences.
AVIATION
Strike cancels 300 flights
Almost 300 flights were canceled at Frankfurt, Europe’s third-largest airport, yesterday after a small group of workers on the airport apron resumed a strike over pay and said the action could continue next week. The GdF trade union called on 200 workers to strike after failing to reach a pay deal with airport operator Fraport, which says the workers’ demands are too high. A spokesman for the GdF union said that while no strike action was planned for the weekend, they could resume action next week if Fraport did not meet their demands. The union must give Fraport 24 hours’ notice before launching any further strike action. Fraport has said the demands for increases in pay of up to 70 percent are “irresponsible” and called on the union to compromise.
PETROLEUM
Oil rises near US$103
Oil rose to near US$103 a barrel yesterday in Asia as signs of an improving US economy fueled investor optimism and a global stock market rally. Benchmark crude was up US$0.48 to US$102.79 per barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose US$0.52 to settle at US$102.32 per barrel in New York on Thursday. Brent crude was up US$0.24 at US$120.35 per barrel in London. Crude has jumped from US$96 earlier this month as a surge in stock markets suggests investor confidence in the US economic outlook is improving. Rising fears that a military conflict will erupt over Iran’s nuclear program and block oil supplies from reaching markets has also helped push crude prices higher.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Applied predicts profit
Applied Materials Inc, the largest producer of chipmaking equipment, rose as much as 6.6 percent after predicting higher profit than estimated, signaling that semiconductor makers are pulling out of a spending slump. Excluding certain costs, second-quarter profit will be US$0.20 to US$0.28 a share, the Santa Clara, California-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Analysts had estimated US$0.16 on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Customers are stepping up equipment spending to ensure they can meet demand for chips used in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) are helping fuel the rebound, according to Patrick Ho, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
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