CHIPMAKERS
Short supply worsens
The short supply of flash memory chips has worsened, Phison Electronics Corp (群聯) chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) said in a statement yesterday, citing better-than-expected iPhone 7 sales. Supply is expected to remain tight until the end of this year, Pua said. Meanwhile, the board of the world’s No. 3 NAND flash controller supplier yesterday signed off on restated financial statements for the past seven-and-a-half years as requested by the Financial Supervisory Commission earlier this month, according to a separate statement. The board also approved a plan to acquire all shares of Everspeed Technology Ltd (永馳科技) for just NT$1 to strengthen its operational structure. Pua currently has a controlling stake in Everspeed.
LOGISTICS
FedEx, PCSC in partnership
US-based FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEX Corp, yesterday announced a partnership with Taiwan’s President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商) in a move to bring its international priority document shipment service to more than 5,000 7-Eleven convenience stores across the nation. Consumers can obtain a payment code at FedEx’s Web site and pay and drop off as well as pick up documents for delivery at 7-Eleven stores around the clock, the companies said in a joint statement.
ECONOMY
Public confidence dips
Public confidence in the economy and equity investments dipped this month as investors turned skittish toward the US Federal Reserve’s more hawkish stance on its planned interest rate hike cycle, a survey by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) showed yesterday. Despite recent improvements in the nation’s exports and imports, an index tracking the public’s optimism had dropped to minus-22 from minus-19 a month earlier. Optimism in the local bourse and risk appetite fell from minus-20.5 to minus-29.4 and from minus-8.8 to minus-12.4, the survey showed.
SELF-DRIVING CARS
ITRI, Nvidia sign MOU
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nvidia Inc to develop self-driving cars. The institute is testing its first prototype autonomous car in Hsinchu after the project began more than one year ago, focusing on public use in theme parks, high-speed railways and mass transportation systems. Based on the MOU, ITRI will adopt Nvidia’s self-driving DRIVE PX2 platform and chips in developing its own autonomous vehicles.
BANKING
US gets yuan clearing bank
Bank of China Ltd’s (中國銀行) New York branch will be the first yuan clearing bank in the US, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement yesterday. The Chinese government has named yuan clearing banks in 21 overseas cities and countries as part of a drive to promote the use of the currency for transactions worldwide. Bank of China has received the most yuan clearing mandates of China’s banks with 11, including Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau, Sydney and Paris.
SECURITIES
Yang to head Greater China
US private-equity firm KKR & Co on Tuesday announced the appointment of Paul Yang (楊文鈞), president and chief executive officer of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), as its head of Greater China, as the firm continues building its Chinese business. Yang, 48, will be based in Hong Kong and his appointment will take effect in January next year, according to a press release.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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