ENVIRONMENT
WRA orders water rationing
First-phase water rationing is to be implemented in Tainan and Chiayi County from Wednesday, as heavy rains over most of the nation on Friday were insufficient to replenish water supplies there. State-run Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水) said it will carry out the measure as ordered by the Water Resources Agency (WRA). First-phase water rationing began in Kaohsiung on March 20, and it began in Taoyuan and Hsinchu, as well as New Taipei City’s Linkou (林口), Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts, early last month. Under the measure, water pressure is reduced between 11pm and 6am, Taiwan Water said, adding that government agencies and state-run companies will be barred from turning on fountains, watering plants and washing the exterior of their buildings with water from the mains supply.
TOURISM
Poll shows market potential
More than 80 percent of Taiwanese aged 55 or above take at least two trips per year, according to a survey released on Saturday by the Institute for Information Industry. The survey showed that 45.9 percent of people 55 or older take between two and four trips per year in Taiwan or abroad, while 24.1 percent take between five and 11 trips per year. Another 10 percent take more than 12 trips per year, highlighting the considerable potential of the age bracket in the tourism market, the institute said. Travelers in the age bracket on average spend NT$3,792 per person per trip and the most popular trips were those within the NT$1,000 to NT$3,000 price range, the survey found. Women tend to spend more than men, spending an average of NT$4,416 per outing compared with NT$3,159 spent by men, it showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
AI TALENT: No financial details were released about the deal, in which top Groq executives, including its CEO, would join Nvidia to help advance the technology Nvidia Corp has agreed to a licensing deal with artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Groq, furthering its investments in companies connected to the AI boom and gaining the right to add a new type of technology to its products. The world’s largest publicly traded company has paid for the right to use Groq’s technology and is to integrate its chip design into future products. Some of the start-up’s executives are leaving to join Nvidia to help with that effort, the companies said. Groq would continue as an independent company with a new chief executive, it said on Wednesday in a post on its Web
CHINA RIVAL: The chips are positioned to compete with Nvidia’s Hopper and Blackwell products and would enable clusters connecting more than 100,000 chips Moore Threads Technology Co (摩爾線程) introduced a new generation of chips aimed at reducing artificial intelligence (AI) developers’ dependence on Nvidia Corp’s hardware, just weeks after pulling off one of the most successful Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) in years. “These products will significantly enhance world-class computing speed and capabilities that all developers aspire to,” Moore Threads CEO Zhang Jianzhong (張建中), a former Nvidia executive, said on Saturday at a company event in Beijing. “We hope they can meet the needs of more developers in China so that you no longer need to wait for advanced foreign products.” Chinese chipmakers are in
POLICY REVERSAL: The decision to allow sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China came after years of tightening controls and has drawn objections among some Republicans US House Republicans are calling for arms-sale-style congressional oversight of artificial intelligence (AI) chip exports as US President Donald Trump’s administration moves to approve licenses for Nvidia Corp to ship its H200 processor to China. US Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which oversees export controls, on Friday introduced a bill dubbed the AI Overwatch Act that would require the US Congress to be notified of AI chips sales to adversaries. Any processors equal to or higher in capabilities than Nvidia’s H20 would be subject to oversight, the draft bill says. Lawmakers would have
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