COMMUNICATIONS
Acer plans low-cost phones
PC brand Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said it plans to unveil new smartphones priced below NT$5,000 (US$169) this year to cash in on the growing popularity of mobile devices for entry-level customers. The low-cost models would go on sale in the second half of the year in Southeast Asia and Europe, the company said. The strategy of making low-cost phones came after successful sales of the Acer Iconia B1 tablet — which costs less than US$150 — as the company’s latest foray into the affordable-tablet market. This year, Acer plans to launch six or seven smartphone models and aims to sell 1.5 million to 2 million smartphones, up from 600,000 to 700,000 units last year.
PANEL MAKERS
AU Optronics to raise funds
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) yesterday said its board had approved a fundraising plan to issue 1 billion common shares via a private placement. The company plans to use the proceeds to finance the development of advanced LCD manufacturing technologies such as Oxide TFT and to support capacity expansion, it said in a statement. The proceeds will also be used to improve the company’s financial structure and to replenish its operating fund. AU Optronics said it plans to offer the new shares in the form of bonds or as a rights issue at home or abroad, depending on market conditions. The fundraising program will need the approval of shareholders by June 19.
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