FINANCING
TetraVue closes Series A
TetraVue, a California-based firm that provides advanced 3D imaging technologies, announced the close of its Series A funding of US$10 million, backed by manufacturing giants such as Samsung Electronics Co and Foxconn Technology Group (富士康). TetraVue founder and chief executive officer Paul Banks said in a press release that the new funds would be used on 3D vision technology to enable “smart” vision for “smarter machines.” The US company said it is developing partnerships with car manufacturers, artificial intelligence software developers and hardware makers for self-driving vehicles development.
INVESTMENT
Sun Art Retail halts trading
China’s leading hypermarket operator, Sun Art Retail Group (高鑫零售), yesterday sought a trading halt on its Hong Kong-listed shares beginning at 1:30pm after the shares rose by 6.5 percent in the morning session. The rise came amid media speculation that potential suitors were in talks to buy the RT-Mart (大潤發) hypermarket chain in China. The Chinese-language Commercial Times, citing Ruentex Group (潤泰集團) chairman Samuel Yin (尹衍樑), reported that potential suitors include Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and Chinese retail giant Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd (蘇寧電商集團). Taipei-based Ruentex is a major shareholder in Sun Art and operates RT-Mart chains in Taiwan and China.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford Lio Ho to upgrade
Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和) on Thursday said it would invest NT$4 billion (US$130 million) to upgrade its production processes in Taiwan and manufacture the Escort series of family cars. As part of a program to improve the quality of its vehicles, the investment will mainly involve the purchase of new equipment and introduction of intelligent production, Ford Lio Ho said. The firm also said it plans to add more options to its Escort series to meet customer demand.
SEMICONDUCTORS
FocalTech income up 51%
FocalTech Systems Co Ltd (敦泰科技) posted a 51 percent increase in pre-tax income to NT$158 million for last quarter, compared with NT$105 million in the previous quarter, according to a statement released by the touchpanel controller supplier on Tuesday. FocalTech attributed the growth to an increase in shipments of higher-margin products. Revenue last quarter shrank 12 percent quarter-on-quarter due to a short supply of flat panels, it said. Last year as a whole, it made NT$242 million in pre-tax income, down 7 percent from NT$259 million in 2015 on lower non-operating income. Operating income reached NT$207 million last year, an improvement from an operating loss of NT$136 million in 2015.
FINANCING
New Apple bonds for Taiwan
Apple Inc is set to issue corporate bonds in Taiwan, aiming to raise US$1 billion, market sources said on Thursday. The bonds, with a 30-year maturity, are scheduled to be listed on March 3, the sources said. This is the second time Apple is seeking to raise funds in Taiwan through bond sales after issuing US$1.38 billion in June last year. The first bond sale generated more than US$1.2 billion. The new bonds have been priced at a coupon rate of 4.3 percent, higher than the 4.15 percent in the previous sales following the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike in December last year, the sources said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to