SEMICONDUCTORS
SPIL board to mull ASE bid
Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s No. 3 chip packager and tester, yesterday said that its board is scheduled to meet on Monday next week to discuss an acquisition proposal from rival Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體). SPIL’s preliminary reply came before yesterday’s deadline set by ASE. SPIL said it received the offer on Dec. 14 and plans to discuss the NT$129 billion (US$3.9 billion) proposal based on the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act (企業併購法) and other national laws and regulations.
PANELMAKERS
TPK to receive fire redress
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻), one of Apple Inc’s touchpanel suppliers, yesterday said it would receive 185 million yuan (US$28.6 million) in compensation for a fire at one of its Chinese factories in January. The gain is to be disclosed in the company’s fourth-quarter financial statement. TPK said it has reached an agreement with an insurance company on compensation for fire damage at a Xiamen plant. The fire damaged assets worth NT$1.2 billion, TPK said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.
CHIPMAKERS
Nanya profit falls 71 percent
Local DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) generated NT$773 million in net profit last month, down 71 percent from the same period a year ago, according to a company statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp yesterday. That translated into earnings per share of NT$0.32, the statement said. Revenue shrank by about 15 percent annually to NT$3.37 billion last month. The bourse requested that Nanya release its latest net profit figure due to unusually strong stock prices. Shares of Nanya yesterday rallied for an 8.7 percent gain to NT$57.5. The stock has risen by more than 35 percent since Tuesday last week after Nanya announced the sale of its 24 percent stake in joint venture Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) to partner Micron Technology Inc for NT$47.6 billion.
INVESTMENT
Chinese projects increase
The number of Chinese investment projects in Taiwan increased 31.03 percent annually to 152 in the first 11 months of this year, but the total investment value plunged 56.26 percent annually to US$143.42 million over the same period of time due to higher base last year, the Investment Commission said yesterday. Last year’s approved Chinese investment projects include Colorful Group’s (七彩虹集團) US$43.99 million investment in I Cheng Metal Industry Co (億城), the commission said in a statement. The commission’s statistics showed that China-bound investment cases decreased 19.72 percent annually to 289 cases in the first 11 months of this year, but the amount of investment grew 9.18 percent annually to US$9.44 billion over the same period.
INTERNET
Connection speed slows
Taiwan’s average Internet connection speed slowed, ranking 33rd in the world with an average connection speed of 10.1 megabits per second (Mbps), according to the latest report by US-based content delivery network services company Akamai Technologies Inc. According to Akamai’s State of the Internet Report for the third quarter of this year, Taiwan’s average connection speed posted a 4.9 percent drop from the previous quarter. In terms of peak connection speed, Taiwan placed fifth with a speed of 77.9Mbps.
STAFF WRITER, with CNA
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],”