ELECTRONICS
Qisda sells smart bus system
Local electronics maker Qisda Inc (佳世達) yesterday said it has introduced its smart vehicle management system to the supply chain of electric vehicle manufacturer RAC Electric Vehicles Inc (華德動能). The system aims to improve fleet operation efficiency and ensure driving safety, Qisda said in a statement. The smart solutions are expected to be adopted in electric buses made by RAC for Shin-Shin Bus Co (欣欣客運) at the end of this year, it said, adding that it is looking to sell its smart solutions to markets in Europe and Southeast Asia.
INTERNET
Site grows merchant platform
PChomestore Inc (商店街市集) yesterday said its individual merchant platform business has continued to expand substantially this year, with the number of stores registering for the online auction site reaching 100,000, doubling from 50,000 in October last year. Total transaction value at its merchant platform business approached nearly NT$12 billion ($US403.52 million) in the first quarter of this year, PChomestore Marketplace chief operating officer Irene Huang (黃淑琳) said. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on June 22 regarding the e-commerce operator’s plan to delist from the Taipei Exchange.
BANKING
Taishin touts cobranded card
Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) yesterday announced that it would launch a cobranded credit card with Cotton Field Organic Co Ltd (棉花田生機園地), as it is upbeat about consumer demand for organic foodstuffs in Taiwan. The card is to serve as both a credit card and a VIP membership card for the retailer, Taishin said, adding that it aims to issue 100,000 Cotton Field cobranded cards in the first year of its launch.
INVESTMENT
Fubon joins Huifu IPO
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) yesterday said it is to participate in the initial public offering (IPO) of Huifu Payment Ltd (匯付天下) in Hong Kong in light of rapid growth in China’s third-party payment industry and Huifu’s profit outlook. Huifu is scheduled to debut its shares in Hong Kong on Friday next week to become the first third-party payment service provider listed there. Market watchers said Huifu’s Hong Kong IPO might draw market attention to China’s emerging third-party payment market.
PANELMAKERS
GIS’ sales rise as TPK’s fall
Touch-panel suppliers General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (GIS, 業成科技) and TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday reported mixed sales results for last month. GIS said sales continued to increase for the fourth consecutive month to NT$8.01 billion, up 1.31 percent year-on-year, bringing its cumulative sales in the first five months to NT$37.87 billion, up 14.34 percent annually. TPK’s sales declined 26.9 percent to NT$5.2 billion, with aggregate sales totaling NT$32.7 billion, down 6.64 percent from a year earlier.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Reserves soar US$144m
Foreign-exchange reserves totaled US$457.28 billion as of the end of last month, an increase of US$144 million from the figure recorded at the end of April, the central bank said on Tuesday. The increase was due to returns from the central bank’s management of reserve assets, which were partially offset by the depreciation of the euro and other reserve currencies against the US dollar, it said.
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