Lenovo picks MediaTek chips
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, said China’s PC brand Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) has picked its chips for Lenovo’s latest tablet running on the Android system.
Lenovo will use MediaTek’s MT6575 and MT6620 Android chips in its new tablet, according to a statement released by MediaTek on Thursday. The chips are currently used by many of MediaTek’s leading customers in their latest smartphone and tablet offerings, the Taiwanese firm said.
MediaTek’s mobile platform would help mobile device manufacturers, such as Lenovo, to address the mid-range and entry-level tablets. Gartner Inc forecast global tablet shipments would grow to 494 million units in 2016 from this year’s 119 million units.
Real-estate tops NT$218 billion
The volume of presale real-estate projects in northern Taiwan for the Sept. 28 promotional season starting this weekend totals NT$218.9 billion (US$7 billion), a new eight-year high, according to the latest survey by Chinese-language MyHousing magazine.
New Taipei City (新北市) leads the northern region with NT$92.1 billion in volume, followed by NT$49.4 billion in Hsinchu and NT$43.6 billion in Taipei City, according to the survey.
Cathay acquires China offices
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation’s largest insurance company by market share, has acquired five floors of an office building in Shanghai for NT$3.18 billion at NT$883,300 per ping (3.3m2), marking the first real-estate investment by Taiwanese insurers in China, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday.
The life insurer, the flagship company of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), will use the space as its headquarters in China, the newspaper said. More Taiwanese insurers are expected to follow Cathay Life in their bids to acquire real estate in China, if the Financial Supervisory Commission loosens restrictions on insurers’ cross-strait property investments, the report said.
Solar firms anticipate orders
Taiwanese solar product manufacturers at a solar energy fair in the US were expected to secure more than US$10 million in orders, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said on Thursday. Operating at 22 booths, the 14 Taiwanese companies at Solar Power International 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center in Florida displayed products such as solar power generation systems, polycrystalline silicon cell chips, solar modules and connectors, the TAITRA said.
Taiwanese participants included photovoltaic system component maker Topper Sun Energy Technology Co (上陽), solar module suppliers Ablytek Co (綠晁) and Tynsolar Corp (頂晶), the council said.
Lenovo names GM for Taiwan
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) announced yesterday it had named Jack Lee (李世傑) as general manager for operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, with the appointment taking effect on Oct. 1.
Lee will report to Milko van Duijl, president for the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions at Lenovo Group, the company said in a statement. Lee currently serves as vice president at Lenovo Group. Prior to this position, he was general manager for Lenovo’s operations in the Middle East and Africa.
NT dollar gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.23 to close at NT$29.469.
Turnover totaled US$1.05 billion during the trading session.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry