INSURANCE
Losses from riots low: Fubon
Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險), the non-life insurance wing of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), yesterday said preliminary losses linked to the recent anti-China riots in Vietnam totaled only NT$250 million (US$82,915), thanks to its reinsurance program. The company said it set up a task force to help customers with 223 cases of compensation claims, and that it would have cost the company an extra NT$1.1 billion in the absence of the program. The risk diversion mechanism cut the actual expense to NT$250 million, the insurer said.
HANDSETS
China 4G sales may hit 90m
China’s fourth-generation (4G) handset market is estimated to reach 90 million units this year, as main wireless carriers make strong marketing pushes to attract customers, a report published yesterday by IHS Technology said. The large demand will be driven by China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the world’s biggest mobile carrier by subscriber numbers, although the Chinese operator has reportedly cut its 4G device sales target to 70 million units this year from an earlier projection of 100 million units, the research firm said. Samsung Electronics Co might have the best chance to lead the 4G market in China, as the company held more than a 15 percent share of China’s smartphone market last year and remained the biggest player there, IHS data showed.
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],”