BANKING
Central bank to mull rates
The central bank yesterday announced that it is to hold its quarterly board meeting on Sept. 29. The central bank, which has cut interest rates four times since September last year, has reportedly been debating whether to cut interest rates again to help boost the nation’s economy. However, if the US central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which is to meet on Sept. 20 and 21, decides to raise rates, it might increase the chance of staying put rather than cutting rates for Taiwan’s monetary authorities at the quarterly meeting later this month, market watchers said.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai shares up 1.85%
Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose 1.85 percent with more than 158.45 million shares traded, as investors snatched up the company’s shares yesterday. The number of shares changing hands was the largest volume of an individual stock on the Taipei Stock Exchange yesterday and marked the biggest trading volume for Hon Hai since Dec. 17, 2012. Hon Hai is to spend more than NT$62.55 billion (US$1.97 billion) to distribute a NT$5 dividend — a cash dividend of NT$4 per share and a 0.1 percent stock dividend — to shareholders on Oct. 7. Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is expected to receive almost NT$7.7 billion in dividends, based on his more than 1.92 billion shares in the company, according to the firm’s filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ENERGY
Taipower names president
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday named vice president Chung Bin-li (鐘炳利) as the state-run utility’s new president. Chung said his priority is to maintain the stability of power supply in Taiwan. While the nation might not face an electricity shortage this winter, the supply situation might be “slightly” more restrained than in the past few years as Taipower plans to carry out annual inspections and maintenance on some power generation units in the period, Chung said. Those units could return to work and support the electricity supply in summer next year, he said.
COMPUTERS
IBM eyes new Taiwan center
IBM Corp yesterday announced the establishment of a new Client Innovation Center in Taiwan, which is to focus on helping the nation introduce advanced applications in the area of cognitive computing, big data analytics, blockchain, Internet of Things, financial technology and agile practices. IBM said the facility also aims to enable Taiwan’s industrial transformation, helping local businesses fast-track the nation’s initiatives such as bank 3.0, industry 4.0 or retail 4.0 and deliver high-value services. The center will recruit software development and innovation professionals, including programmers, user experience designers, software architects, business analysts and consultants, the company said in a statement.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC touts microcontrollers
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, on Thursday said it would collaborate with Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp to produce microcontrollers using its 28-nanometer embedded flash technology, targeting next-generation “green” and autonomous vehicles. The automotive microcontrollers are set for sample shipments next year and for mass production in 2020, TSMC said in a statement. TSMC shares gained 0.58 percent yesterday to close at NT$174.50 in Taipei trading.
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],”