CHIPMAKERS
SK Hynix snubs PRC firm
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc said it had received a collaboration proposal from China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光), but turned it down, Reuters reported yesterday, citing a SK Hynix spokeswoman. However, the spokeswoman declined to comment on media reports that the proposal included an offer by the Chinese technology conglomerate to purchase up to 20 percent in SK Hynix, Reuters said. A Tsinghua spokesman said the company was not aware of the reported proposal.
3D PRINTERS
XYZ opens Bangkok base
Taiwanese 3D printer manufacturer XYZprinting Inc (三緯) chose Thailand as the location of its first branch in Southeast Asia, after the company launched an office in Bangkok on Thursday. XYZ Printing chairman Simon Shen (沈軾榮) said the company plans to introduce a complete 3D printing product line to consumers there in view of Thailand’s economic growth potential. The company also has offices in China, Japan, Korea, the US and Europe.
PANELMAKERS
Firms focus on 4K TVs
Flat-panel makers worldwide have intensified efforts to develop 4K ultra-high-definition panels for TVs, according to WitsView, a flat-panel research unit of TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). In a report released on Thursday, WitsView said 4K panels are expected to account for 38 percent of TV screen shipments for LG Display Co next year, 37 percent for Samsung Electronics Co, 33 percent for AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and 20 percent for Taiwan-based Innolux Corp (群創光電).
REAL ESTATE
Investment gain reported
Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) on Thursday reported an investment gain of NT$120 million (US$3.65 million) from the sales of building spaces and parking lots to affiliated Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽). The land developer said in a stock exchange filing that it sold office spaces on two underground floors and 17 underground parking lots within the Farglory International Financial Plaza (遠雄國際金融中心) for NT$490 million.
TRADE
Tax deal signed with Japan
Taiwan and Japan on Thursday signed a bilateral agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The pact allows Taiwanese working for enterprises in Japan not to be taxed in both countries, and vice versa. It also extends to employees who are on long-term business trips to the other country, the ministry said. In addition, the two sides on Thursday signed two memorandums of understanding on the application of competition laws and on cooperation and exchanges on disaster prevention, the ministry said.
CHEMICALS
Dow reshuffles management
Dow Chemical Co yesterday announced a management reshuffle in its Asia-Pacific operations, with Peter Sykes, president of Dow Asia Pacific, being appointed to serve as vice president for global mergers and acquisitions. The position vacated by Sykes is to be filled by Peter Wong (黃祝齡), president of Dow Greater China, while Lim Yoke Loon (林育麟), business director of Dow Coating Materials Asia Pacific, is to take over Wong’s position, the Midland, Michigan-based company said in a statement. These executives are to begin the handover of their responsibilities in the next one to two months, Dow said.
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) latest smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor it revealed last year, results from an independent analysis showed. This underscored the Chinese company’s ability to sustain production of the controversial chip. The Pura 70 series unveiled last week sports the Kirin 9010 processor, research firm TechInsights found during a teardown of the device. This is a newer version of the Kirin 9000s, made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) for the Mate 60 Pro, which had alarmed officials in Washington who thought a 7-nanometer chip was beyond China’s capabilities. Huawei has enjoyed a resurgence since
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li