Yuan deposits at US$49bn
Yuan deposits at Taiwanese banks totaled 300.429 billion yuan (US$49.05 billion) at the end of last month, 1.76 percent higher than the 295.244 billion yuan recorded at the end of August, the central bank said yesterday.
Last month’s level of yuan deposits included 248.213 billion yuan in savings accounts at 67 domestic banking units and 52.216 billion yuan in savings accounts at 59 offshore banking units, according to data provided by the central bank.
Meanwhile, the central bank said it is amending regulations to allow a tourist to bring up to NT$100,000 into Taiwan, up from the current ceiling of NT$60,000, citing the growth in domestic consumption and the need to support the local tourism industry. The bank said it would collect pubilc opinion on the change until Oct. 22 before making its final decision.
General Energy UK project done
Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光), the nation’s largest solar cell manufacturer, yesterday said its solar system building subsidiary, General Energy Solutions Inc (永旺能源), has completed a NT$1 billion (US$32.87 million) project by building rooftop solar power systems with annual capacity totaling 14 megawatts in the UK.
Starting in January next year, the rooftop solar power systems will begin supplying solar power to 4,500 households in a community in Tameside, Greater Manchester, UK, Neo Solar said in a statement.
General Energy is the first local solar power system builder to win a contract to build solar power systems in the UK, Neo Solar said.
MediaTek, Acer partner on cloud
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) is working on smart surveillance solutions that will integrate its wearable and Internet of Things technology with computer maker Acer Inc’s (宏碁) cloud platform.
The project is aimed at providing “proactive” and “individualized” services for consumers through context-aware smart devices, J.C. Hsu (徐敬全), general manager of MediaTek’s new business development unit, said yesterday during a keynote speech at Acer’s first Build Your Own Cloud forum in Taipei.
The solutions are part of the two companies’ efforts to seek new business opportunities in the cloud area, such as location-based services, smart healthcare and smart transportation devices, Hsu said.
Skype video app unveiled
Microsoft-owned Skype on Tuesday unveiled a new app enabling users to send short video messages to stay “connected between calls.”
The smartphone app called Skype Qik allows users to create and send videos up to 42 seconds long.
The new service seeks to help Microsoft catch up to rivals in the fast-growing mobile messaging space. It is available for phones using Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android platform and Microsoft’s own Windows Phone.
ASE plans overseas bond sale
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s top chip tester and packager, yesterday said it plans to issue US$400 million in convertible bonds overseas to raise fund to buy raw materials.
The planned five-year bonds are to carry a zero coupon rate, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In a separate filing, ASE said its board has approved a plan to spend NT$875 million (US$28.76 million) on building a new dormitory in Greater Kaohsiung to house its growing number of foreign employees.
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],”