TRADE
IC firms face ITC probes
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) said on Monday it has decided to launch an investigation into patent infringement allegations against Taiwanese IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and several other Asian electronics firms. In a statement, the ITC said Optical Devices LLC of the US filed a complaint on Sept. 3 alleging that MediaTek, China’s Lenovo Group (聯想), South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, as well as Japan’s Toshiba Corp, Nintendo Co and Panasonic Corp have infringed on the technology it uses in certain optical disc drives and related products. The products covered by the investigation include computers, computer storage devices, DVD and Blu-ray players and recorders, CD players, televisions, console gaming systems and servers, the ITC said.
INVESTMENT
China investment rises
Chinese investment in Taiwan increased in the first nine months of the year compared with a year earlier, data released by the Investment Commission showed on Monday. A total of 103 Chinese investment projects were approved in the first nine months, up 4.04 percent year-on-year, while their total value surged 137.26 percent from a year earlier to US$331.2 million. The increase in investment showed that Chinese investors have gained a better understanding of what to invest in and who to work with, the commission 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