INVESTMENT
TJPO, Panasonic sign letter
The Japan Industrial Promotion Office (TJPO) and Panasonic Corp’s local unit yesterday signed a letter of intent for joint development of green technology and low-carbon smart cities.
partnership is expected to launch a wide range of cooperative efforts in research and development to technological exchanges and joint ventures that will strengthen the competitiveness of Taiwanese and Japanese industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement.
INTERNET
Online bookstore opens
Rakuten Inc yesterday launched an online bookstore in Taiwan with 100,000 titles.
A Rakuten e-commerce survey earlier this year found that 47.3 percent of Taiwanese usually purchase books online, the company said in a statement. With nearly 40,000 new titles published domestically every year, online bookstores represent a growing category of e-commerce, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC upgrading process
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that it is aiming to secure full reliability qualification on the new 16 nanometer process later this month, before entering commercial production in July next year.
TSMC said its new process has been adopted by its major clients, including MediaTek Inc (聯發科), LG Electronics Inc, NVIDIA Corp and Renesas Electronics Corp.
FINANCING
Taipower raises NT$14.35bn
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday raised NT$14.35 billion (US$469 million) through an auction of unsecured bonds in four tranches.
Taipower said it auctioned NT$1.55 billion in three-year bonds and NT$4.8 billion in five-year debts. The company also sold NT$3.2 billion in seven-year bonds and NT$4.8 billion of 10-year bonds.
Based on the results of the auction, Taipower will pay a coupon rate of 1.10 percent on the three-year notes, 1.46 percent on the five-year bonds, 1.77 percent for the seven-year debts and 2.02 percent for the 10-year securities.
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],”