CONSTRUCTION
Ruentex eyes projects
Supermarket operator and property developer Ruentex Development Co (潤泰創新) yesterday said it would book construction revenue from the Song Tao Yuan (松濤苑) project in Taipei’s Boai Special District (博愛) and from the Wan Hua Yuan (萬花園) project in Wanhua District (萬華) in the second half, as the number of available units left for sale has gradually declined as a result of a market downturn. However, the company expects construction revenue to increase next year, as expects to see contributions from the Neihu Zhan (內湖讚) project near the Neihu MRT Station and from the Ming Feng (明峰) project in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), Ruentex Development president Li Chih-hung (李志宏) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. In the first eight months, the company’s total revenue plunged 30.1 percent year-on-year to NT$5.89 billion (US$179.8 million).
BANKING
TCB inks Myanmar deal
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (TCB, 合作金庫銀行) in Taipei yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding on business cooperation with Co-operative Bank Ltd of Myanmar. Taiwan Cooperative said its counterpart is the third-largest private bank by total assets in the former junta-ruled Southeast Asian country and expects the partnership to facilitate Taiwanese businesspeople’s investments there. Taiwan Cooperative last month received regulatory approval to set up a representative office in Yangon, which is expected to start operation by the end of this year, the lender said.
CHIP DESIGNERS
ARM to launch facility
UK chip designer ARM Holdings PLC yesterday said it is scheduled to launch a central processing unit (CPU) design center in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) on Tuesday next week, focusing on the development of the next generation of its Cortex-M processors. The company said the CPU design center will be its fourth and the first in Asia. The Cortex-M processors are mainly used in devices in the Internet of Things market, as well as wearable gadgets and embedded applications, ARM said.
AIRLINES
CAL launches new route
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, yesterday launched a new flight service between Kaohsiung and Changzhou in Jiangsu Province, China. CAL next month plans to provide new flights between Kaohsiung and Kumamoto, and between Kaohsiung and Fukuoka in Japan in addition to flights between Tainan and Osaka, with the carrier aiming to generate more revenue to buck the industry trend of a traditionally slow season in the fourth quarter. CAL reported cumulative revenue of NT$98.76 billion from January to last month, down 1.17 percent from the same period last year.
JAPAN
S&P cuts credit rating
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Service yesterday downgraded its sovereign credit rating for Japan by one notch from “AA-” to “A+,” saying the nation was unlikely to revive economic growth and end deflation within the next few years. “Despite showing initial promise, the government’s strategy to revive economic growth and end deflation appears unlikely to reverse this deterioration in the next two to three years,” S&P said in a statement. The downgrade came a day after the central bank held fire on expanding its monetary easing program, while economists warned more stimulus could be needed to boost the sagging economy.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks