PANELMAKERS
Innolux, AUO’s sales soar
Innolux Corp (群創) and AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the two largest flat-panel makers in Taiwan, saw their first-quarter sales soar at a double-digit pace from a year earlier on the back of a spike in product prices. Innolux posted NT$86.03 billion (US$2.81 billion) in consolidated sales, jumping 52.5 percent from a year earlier, while AUO recorded NT$88.56 billion, up 24.5 percent from a year earlier. Higher product prices offset the impact of the slow season’s effects in the global panel industry, so Innolux’s three-month sales figure fell only 3.8 percent from a quarter earlier, and AUO’s dropped at a minor pace of 3.6 percent, analysts said.
CHIPMAKERS
US probing Toshiba
The US International Trade Commission has decided to launch an investigation into a case in which memorychip manufacturer Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) accuses Japan’s Toshiba Corp of infringing on its patents related to the production of non-volatile memory devices and products containing the devices. The commission on Thursday said that the products at issue in the case include memory cards, solid-state drives, digital camcorders and car navigation systems, among other consumer electronics. The commission’s investigation is expected to last 15 to 18 months.
E-COMMERCE
Beauty a big seller
Online bookstore Books.com.tw (博客來) on Saturday said its more than 5 million female consumers are increasingly fond of merchandise and books that help them pursue beauty inside and out. The bookstore said it has witnessed a growth in interest in inspirational and empowering books in recent years among female clients.
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],”