ELECTRONICS
Merry inks Luxshare deal
Audio electronics maker Merry Electronics Co (美律) yesterday said it has signed a letter of intent with Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊) to sell a major stake in its Chinese subsidiary. Luxshare is to invest between 400 million yuan and 600 million yuan (US$59.73 million and US$89.59 million) to acquire between 40 percent and 60 percent of Merry’s subsidiary in China, the firm said. Merry’s Chinese subsidiary accounted for 26 percent of its total revenue of NT$12.23 billion (US$381.9 million) last year. The Taiwanese company said the planned transaction has nothing to do with Luxshare’s Hong Kong subsidiary’s planned investment of NT$3.78 billion in Merry, which the Investment Commission blocked on June 30. Merry said it is still communicating with the commission, seeking the government’s approval for Luxshare to invest in the company.
BANKING
Hacked ATMs to be retired
State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) yesterday announced that it would permanently retire the 438 Wincor Nixdorf ProCash 1500 ATMs that were involved in last week’s hacking incident that resulted in the theft of more than NT$80 million (US$2.5 million) in cash. Procurement orders for replacement ATMs are to be submitted within a month, the company said, adding that services have resumed at 54 ATMs made by the German company that were not the same model. In addition, the company is conducting a review of its management team and a list of executives to be penalized would be announced, First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) chairman Joseph Tsai (蔡慶年) said. Tsai also acknowledged that the investigation of the hacking was beyond the company’s capabilities and that it had alerted the authorities on the day of the theft.
RETAILING
City Cafe revamp unveiled
President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商) yesterday unveiled its latest marketing plan to refresh the image of its coffee brand, City Cafe, in a bid to boost revenue. PCSC plans to launch a series of new drinks, coffee cup sleeves and advertisements for a limited time this summer and hopes the new marketing strategies would boost sales of coffee-related products by 15 percent. The nation’s coffee market is estimated to be worth more than NT$70 billion a year, the company said in a statement.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
NT dollar falls on outflows
The New Taiwan dollar depreciated against its US counterpart yesterday, falling NT$0.034 to close at NT$32.024 as foreign investors moved funds out of the nation after receiving cash dividends from Taiwanese listed companies, dealers said. Buying among local importers also gave an additional boost to the US dollar, helping the greenback snap a three-session losing streak and return to the NT$32 mark at the close, they said. Turnover totaled US$770 million during the trading session. The greenback gained strength in the wake of fund outflows by foreign investors during the dividend season, they said. According to a market estimates, listed companies were expected to pay out about NT$420 billion in cash dividends to foreign investors during the ex-dividend season. By the end of this week, the cash dividend allocation to foreign institutional investors is expected to hit NT$250 billion, which has paved the way for the investors to remit funds out of the nation, the dealers said.
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],”