ELECTRONICS
Sharp considers LCD options
Sharp Corp is considering various options for its ill-fated LCD business after the Yomiuri newspaper yesterday said the company might sell a majority stake in the unit to rival Japan Display Inc. Sharp could spin off the business into a joint venture in which it would hold less than 50 percent, the Japanese newspaper said. However, a Sharp spokesman denied it was in any talks with specific companies. Reuters reported earlier that Sharp was considering a deal with Japan Display’s top shareholder, the state-controlled Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, as well as Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
UTILITIES
New power rates in October
Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) yesterday said Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) would implement new electricity rates in October as scheduled, after a new pricing plan is to be finalized by an electricity price review committee next month. Deng made the remark after a visit to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) headquarters in Hsinchu. Taipower last month said electricity rates between October and March next year would continue to drop to reflect lower power generation costs and declining energy prices.
MANUFACTURING
TIER reports negative growth
The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday said the local manufacturing sector remained weak last month dragged down by slowing exports. In the institute’s monthly report, the manufacturing composite index rose 0.22 points from a month earlier to 9.33 last month, but remained below the threshold of 10.5 to indicate a contraction condition. It was the fourth consecutive month for the manufacturing sector to report negative growth, as Taiwan’s exports from January to last month fell 7.8 percent from a year earlier to US$165.98 billion, the institute said.
COMPUTERS
Advantech, Plenty ink deal
Industrial computer maker Advantech Co (研華科技) yesterday signed a memorandum of cooperation with Taiwan’s Plenty Island Taiwan Corp (和椿科技) and a subsidiary of Panasonic Corp from Japan over their cooperation in the field of Industry 4.0, which refers to connecting automated manufacturing with the online world and the “Internet of Things.” Advantech said in a statement that under the agreement the three companies will focus on the development of PC-based smart controllers and EtherCAT servers for Taiwan’s industrial automation market.
STEEL MAKERS
Anti-dumping duties reduced
The EU has significantly reduced provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on Taiwan’s exports of stainless steel cold-rolled (SSCR) flat products from a range between 24.3 to 25.2 percent to between 0 percent 6.8 percent, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Following the change, tariffs imposed on the nation’s SSCR exports to Europe will be lower than China’s range between 24.4 and 25.3 percent. The EU remain the nation’s largest export market for SSCR products, with sales amounting to US$611.07 million last year, or 32.13 percent of global SSCR exports, the ministry said. The EU had launched an investigation into alleged anti-dumping throughout 2013, and tallied SSCR imports from Taiwan during the period at 169,000 tonnes, outnumbering 143,000 tonnes from China.
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],”