Hon Hai seeks clarity on Sharp
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the principal shareholder of Sharp Corp, yesterday said it was looking into the Japanese electronics firm’s announcement of a plan to cut 5,000 jobs.
“Company chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and other business executives will seek understanding of the actual situation with Sharp’s management and discuss response measures,” Hon Hai spokesman Simon Hsing (邢治平) said.
“We will not comment on any of Sharp’s restructuring plans until we come up with substantial results through negotiations,” he said.
Hon Hai, the main manufacturer of Apple Inc products, announced in late March its acquisition of a roughly 10 percent stake in Sharp for US$800 million, making it the Japanese company’s largest shareholder.
HK yuan deposits not covered
The Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement yesterday that yuan deposits in Hong Kong banks fall outside the protection of Taiwan’s deposit insurance.
The statement is a warning to Taiwanese depositors of risks linked to yuan-savings services provided by some Hong Kong lenders, the commission said.
Yuan-deposit services will soon be available at domestic banks once Taiwan and China work out a currency settlement mechanism, the commission said.
Manufacturers get Windows 8
Microsoft Taiwan Corp yesterday announced that it had released its Windows 8 operating system to manufacturing, the final stage before it goes to market in fall.
The release to manufacturing stage means that testing and development of the system have been completed and the company has started to hand out the final code to its OEM partners.
Developers can download the final code through Microsoft Developer Network subscriptions and obtain the final version of Visual Studio 2012 on Windows Dev Center on Aug. 15.
Information technology professionals can also access the final version of Windows 8 through TechNet subscriptions.
On Aug. 16, users that have Microsoft Software Assurance can download Windows 8 Enterprise edition through the Volume License Service Center, and the system will also be available to members of Microsoft Partner Network.
Microsoft Action Pack Providers will have access to Windows 8 on Aug. 20.
The product will be launched on Sept. 4, but regular consumers will have to wait until Oct. 26 to purchase the new operating system.
Microalgae use under study
A team from National Cheng Kung University is conducting research on the potential commercial applications of microalgae, including the production of biodiesel and skin care products.
The team, led by chemical engineering professor Chang Chia-hsiu (張嘉修), has established a platform to determine the species and analyze the content of microalgae. It has also developed an outdoors microalgae cultivation system.
Chang said the nation’s rich microalgae resources give it a great advantage in developing a microalgae industry.
He said the industry could be very helpful in reducing carbon levels because algae captures carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Every gram of microalgae grown by the team, for example, can consume 2g of carbon dioxide, he added.
HSBC, Uni-President ink loan
HSBC Taiwan has signed an agreement with Uni-President China Holding Co (統一中控) to provide the beverage and instant noodle vendor with 1 billion yuan (US$157 million) in a syndicated loan with a three-year tenor and may be extended to five years, the lender said in a statement on Wednesday.
HSBC Taiwan will co-arrange the syndicated loan with Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (大華銀行) to help Uni-President expand in China, the statement said, adding it is the first yuan syndicated loan in the offshore banking market this year.
Taiwanese wins in Powerpoint
Frequent use of computer software for school assignments helped a Taiwanese university student win a category at this year’s Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Yeh Chih-chang (葉致璋), who will begin her fourth year at Tamkang University, won the first place in the Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 category at the annual event. It was the fifth first prize won by Taiwan’s team over the past four years.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained