AVIATION
EVA starts Asahikawa route
EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空) yesterday launched direct flight services from Taipei to Asahikawa, Japan. Asahikawa is its third destination in Hokkaido, following Sapporo and Hakodate. The flights, using Airbus SAS 330-200 aircraft, will be offered every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, EVA said. The first flight generated a passenger load of more than 90 percent, with the route’s passenger load averaging 80 percent for this month, it said, adding that the three Hokkaido routes are forecasted to have a passenger load of at least 80 percent this year.
TRAVEL
Ezfly changes name
Ezfly Technology Co Ltd (易飛網科技), an online travel agencies, yesterday announced it had changed its name to Ezfly International Travel Agency Co Ltd (易飛網國際旅行社) in preparation for listing on the GRETAI Securities Market by the end of the year. The firm, which originally owned Ezfly Travel Agent Corp (誠信旅行社),will buy all the tourism business from that subsidiary except its China-related business.
SEMICONDUCTORS
MStar probed by prosecutors
The government is probing possible insider trading linked to the merger of MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and MStar Semiconductor Inc (晨星). The firms gave documents to authorities yesterday, they said in separate statements. The investigations relate to the actions of individuals and not the firms, MStar said.
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