ACQUISTIONS
CDFHC targets China Life
China Development Financial Holding Corp’s (CDFHC, 中華開發金控) board on Friday approved a plan to acquire a 25.33 percent stake in Taipei-based China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) at NT$35 per share, the company said. The offer represents a 17.3 percent premium over China Life’s average closing price for the past 20 days, China Development Financial spokesman Eddy Chang (張立人) said at a news conference. The firm plans to purchase 880 million China Life shares on the open market and expects to close the NT$30.8 billion (US$1.1 billion) deal in September at the earliest, Chang said.
FINANCE
FSC approves SinoPac deal
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) on Friday said it obtained the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) approval to sell SinoPac Bancorp to Cathay General Bancorp in the US. SinoPac Bancorp is the US subsidiary of Bank SinoPac Co (永豐銀行) and the parent company of Far East National Bank (遠東國民銀行). The NASDAQ-listed Cathay General Bancorp is the holding company for Cathay Bank.
PATENTS
Heraeus’ case dismissed
Germany’s Heraeus Group on Friday confirmed a long-running patent infringement case against Giga Solar Materials Corp (碩禾) was last week dismissed by Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Court, but Heraeus, the world’s largest supplier of silver photovoltaic conductive paste, said in a statement that it is considering appealing. The ruling relates to a complaint lodged by Heraeus in June 2015 regarding patents for a central technical component in the production of metallization pastes. Giga Solar on Friday said it welcomes the court’s ruling and expects stable orders for the company.
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],”