TECHNOLOGY
Flat-panel shortage forecast
TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) has forecast that a supply shortage of flat panels might worsen next quarter, as production at one of LG Electronics Co’s G8.5 production lines was disrupted earlier this month due to a fatal accident. The incident at LG is likely to have a major effect on the supply of large-size panels next quarter, as LG could sustain a capacity loss of about 715,000m2 per month, TrendForce said in a report on Tuesday. That would provide a cushion to weak panel prices lately, as supply would only outpace demand by 2.8 percent in the best-case scenario, down from a 4 percent estimate, the researcher said. Almost all flat-panel makers would benefit from rising demand, the market researcher said.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
IBMI reaffirms role
The Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI, 國家生技醫療產業策進會) yesterday said that it would continue to facilitate collaborations between the government and the biotechnology sector. The statement came after media reports said that the IBMI and the Taiwan Biotechnology Industry Alliance (TBIA, 台灣生技產業聯盟) — a new organization with a similar mission formed by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration earlier this month — might become the latest battlefront between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, creating redundancy. IBMI, which is led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), said that the institution has gone through three rotations of the ruling party in its near-20 year history and that its relationship with the TBIA would not be adversarial.
BANKING
Pension savings predicted
State-run Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) yesterday said that it would see savings of between NT$9 billion and NT$10 billion (US$297 million and US$330 million) per year as the government’s pension reform ends the 18 percent preferential interest rate for retired civil servants. The bank said that about NT$450 billion of deposits are eligible for the 18 percent preferential interest rate and that the savings would translate into additional profits.
MANUFACTURING
TSMC ranked 45th in value
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the world’s 45th-most valuable company by market capitalization this year, up three notches from last year, a report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers said yesterday. As of March 31, TSMC’s market capitalization stood at US$161 billion, an increase of US$31 billion, or 24 percent, from last year, the Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalization report said. TSMC was the only Taiwanese company on the list.
INVESTMENT
Shares drop by 1 percent
Shares in Taiwan fell by more than 1 percent yesterday as investors reacted to losses overnight on US markets by cutting their holdings, dealers said. Concerns over the delay on a vote on healthcare legislation sent major US indices lower on Tuesday, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ the biggest loser, dropping 1.61 percent. In Taipei, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed down 121.51 points, or 1.16 percent, at 10,390.55, after moving between 10,382.81 and 10,459.17 on turnover of NT$121.18 billion. The bellwether electronics sector fell 1.18 percent, while fuel and electricity stocks plunged 10.1 percent.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six