SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE plant set to restart
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest IC packaging and testing services provider, yesterday said that it would soon resume full operations at its Greater Kaohsiung plant. The factory was shut down for environmental pollution reasons, but has now passed inspections by local health authorities, the company said. ASE said it put environmental measures in place last year in the hopes of becoming a role model for local semiconductor suppliers, though it did not specify what the measures were. In December last year, ASE’s K7 plant was ordered to shut down part of its production after it was found to have dumped untreated waste water into a nearby creek. The partial shutdown cost about US$18 million a month, with the factory accounting for about 9 percent of the company’s monthly sales.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC inks deal with Infineon
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the nation’s No. 2 contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it has signed a manufacturing agreement with Infineon Technologies AG to make power semiconductors for automotive electronics. Based on the agreement, Infineon is to transfer its automotive-qualified smart power technology to UMC, which is to produce the chips at its 12-inch factories, the companies said in a joint statement. The production is scheduled to begin in early 2018, the statement added.
TECHNOLOGY
MediaTek, schools study 5G
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chipmaker, yesterday launched a research program with the nation’s top universities to develop 5G wireless technology. The government-funded program aims to develop chips enabling 5G technologies to support future demand for high-speed data transmission on the Internet of Things, according to a company statement. The five schools are National Chiao Tung University, National Tsing Hua University, National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
ELECTRONICS
Delta to take over Eltek
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the nation’s top power supply unit maker, yesterday said that it plans to buy power system company Eltek ASA in a deal totaling 3.9 billion Norwegian krone (US$529 million) to expand its markets in the US, Europe and Africa. Delta plans to buy up to 329 million shares, or 100 percent, of Eltek at 11.76 Norwegian krone per share, Delta said in a statement. The transaction is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Eltek, based in Drammen, Norway, has 2,400 employees across 60 sales offices worldwide.
BANKING
Cathay Life eyes Rizal stake
Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (國泰人壽), a subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), is scheduled to ink an agreement tomorrow to purchase a nearly 20 percent stake in Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in the Philippines. Cathay Life Insurance said in a statement that the total for the transaction is about 17.92 billion Philippine pesos (US$401.21 million) at 64 pesos per share. The company said that the Philippine banking sector is an attractive market in terms of growth, profitability and asset quality. Cathay Life Insurance said that the transaction is scheduled to take effect in the first quarter of next year after regulatory approval in Taiwan and the Philippines.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six