CHIPMAKERS
Inotera to issue shares
Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), a DRAM chipmaking venture between US memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc and Nanya Technology Inc (南亞科技), yesterday said shareholders have approved the latest fundraising program by issuing as many as 450 million new common shares. The share issuance may raise NT$12 billion (US$395 million) for the chipmaker as the selling price is temporarily set at NT$26.7 per share, representing a 3.09 percent premium, compared with the stock’s closing price of NT$25.9 yesterday. Inotera said it plans to use the proceeds to buy new equipment for technological migration. Inotera said last month that it will boost capital spending this year to NT$15 billion from last year’s NT$6.4 billion to help migrate to 20-nanometer technology.
AUTOMAKERS
Hotai joins Prius recall
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus models in Taiwan, said yesterday that it would recall 2,902 Prius hybrid compact cars it imported to Taiwan from 2009, following Toyota Inc’s global recall made earlier this week. Toyota announced the recall because of the risk of possible deceleration caused by overheating transistors in the Prius’ booster converter. The problem can be fixed with a software upgrade within 30 minutes, according to Hotai. The company will start the software upgrade on Friday next week to fix the deceleration problem, it said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)