ELECTRONICS
Samsung eyes smart watch
Samsung Electronics Co is developing a wristwatch as Asia’s biggest technology company races against Apple Inc to create a new industry of wearable devices that perform similar tasks as smartphones. “We have been preparing the watch product for so long,” Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said during an interview in Seoul. “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.” Lee had no comment on what features the watch may have, how much it would cost and when it would go on sale.
PHARMACEUTICALS
AstraZeneca to lay off 1,600
Struggling Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC said on Monday that it would eliminate 1,600 jobs, mostly in the US and the UK. The job reductions would be equivalent to nearly 3 percent of AstraZeneca’s global work force of 57,200 workers. Even the global headquarters will be shifted, from London to Cambridge, England, as the company moves many of its scientists near top centers for bioscience research. The changes, to be made between now and 2016, are expected to produce annual savings of about US$190 million.
MEDIA
Newspaper to start charging
The Washington Post said on Monday it would start charging frequent readers for online access starting in the middle of this year, with some details still to be finalized. The move, which had been expected, will require a paid subscription after 20 articles or multimedia features have been read per month, the Washington Post Co said in a statement. The Post’s homepage, section front pages and classifieds will not be limited, the statement said. The company said an exact launch date had not been decided, nor had the subscription price.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ARM chief retiring
The chief executive of British chip designer ARM Holdings, Warren East, is retiring after nearly 12 years in the role, the company said yesterday. He will step down on July 1, making way for new chief executive Simon Seagars, the current group president, who has been with ARM since 1991. The British firm has seen strong share performance in recent years on buoyant demand for its processors, which are used in smartphones and tablets.
AUTOMAKERS
Peugeot, union reach deal
Plans by troubled French carmaker Peugeot Citroen to shed more than 11,000 jobs cleared a major hurdle on Monday. After long negotiations with management, the company’s central works committee approved the compensation package with union members representing 76 percent of the employees voting in favor, according to the carmaker’s industrial director Denis Martin. After further consultations the job cuts and compensation package should receive final approval in the second half of next month.
GAMING
Electronic Arts CEO quits
Electronic Arts on Monday announced that chief executive John Riccitiello is stepping down and that the US video game giant would make less money than initially expected this quarter. Riccitiello will leave as chief and the board of directors effective March 30, the company said. Electronic Arts veteran Larry Probst was appointed to lead the company’s executive team, while the board of directors searches for a replacement for Riccitiello.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”