TRANSPORTATION
Zipcar launches in Taipei
Zipcar Inc, the world’s largest car-sharing service network, launched its business in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday when it started operations in Taipei. Boston-based Zipcar’s major competitor in Taiwan is to be iRent, operated by Hotai Leasing Co (和運租車). Unlike iRent, Zipcar requires drivers to first sign up as members, after which they can rent a car by the hour or by the day, or pay a monthly or yearly reservation fee.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC sales up 28 percent
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday said sales rose about 28 percent last month from the previous month to NT$72.80 billion (US$2.42 billion), but were down 1.1 percent from a year earlier. In the first five months, TSMC, which is believed to be supplying the A11 processor for Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhones, posted consolidated sales of NT$363.58 billion, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier. The company last month benefited from clients rebuilding their inventories to reverse a downturn in April, analysts said.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai sales plummet
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) on Friday said sales last month dipped to their lowest in 33 months at NT$279.85 billion, with analysts saying that the decline reflected a slow season as well as a reduced number of working days last month. Shipments of Hon Hai’s computing devices last month increased from a month earlier, while shipments of communications and consumer electronics gadgets declined month-on-month, the company said. In the first five months, Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose 0.23 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.58 trillion.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure