PROPERTY
Office space in demand
The take-up rate of grade A office space in Taichung rose to 80 percent last year, from 68 percent in 2016, as demand increased, a survey conducted by Colliers International Taichung branch (高力國際) showed yesterday. Because the luxury housing market remains sluggish, real-estate funds have been investing in commercial property, the international property broker said. A total of 54,923 ping (181,564m2) of grade A office space is to join the market in central Taichung this year, including a new building owned by CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽), the broker said.
BIOPHARMA
ITRI, Merck to collaborate
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday said it has inked a memorandum of understanding with Merck KGaA on a collaboration program to cultivate professionals in the biopharma sector. The program, to be officially launched in May, is expected to help expand the global market share of the local biopharma industry and create new business opportunities in the precision medicine market, the ITRI said in a statement. As part of the project, Merck is to introduce manufacturing technologies for antibody-drug conjugates, helping Taiwanese companies to enter advanced international pharmaceutical markets. The global biopharma market is estimated to be worth US$278 billion by 2020, the ITRI said.
HOSPITALITY
FDC dividend proposed
Hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (FDC, 雲品國際) yesterday said its board has approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.75 per share based on last year’s earnings. The hotelier posted NT$228 million (US$7.82 million) in net income for last year, or earnings per share of NT$3.48, the company said in a statement last week. The result represented a 19 percent year-on-year increase as its strategy to acquire restaurants and strengthen its service quality paid off, the statement said.
SOLAR CELLS
E-Ton to reduce capital
Solar cell maker E-Ton Solar Technology Co (益通光能) yesterday said its board has approved a plan to reduce its share capital by 59 percent to improve its financial structure. After the reduction, E-Ton would have share capital of NT$3.19 billion. The company has accumulated losses of NT$6.75 billion. E-Ton plans to allocate the NT$2.15 billion surplus to reduce its losses to NT$4.6 billion. Last year, E-Ton lost NT$2.62 billion, marking its ninth consecutive unprofitable year.
MEMORY CHIPS
Macronix touts NOR flash
Memorychip maker Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏) yesterday said TMicroelectronics is using its NOR flash memory for the company’s new STM32L4+ microcontroller Discovery kits and evaluation boards. Macronix said its latest MX25LM 8-bit I/O Series NOR flash series meets the growing demand for “instant-on” performance and real-time system responsiveness in automotive, industrial and consumer applications. ST’s new ultra-low-power, high-performance STM32L4+ is equipped to operate as the central controller in a full range of fitness bands, “smart” watches, medical equipment, “smart” meters and industrial sensors which require sophisticated functions, instant responses and minimal downtime for battery charging, the company said.
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
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the