ACQUISITIONS
Ability buying AndroVideo
Digital camera maker Ability Enterprise Co (佳能) on Friday announced that it is buying AndroVideo Inc (奇卓) for NT$140 million (US$4.53 million) as it expands into the development of edge computing and intelligent image solutions, including facial recognition. AndroVideo, a subsidiary of digital surveillance equipment supplier GioVision Inc (奇偶), manufactures intelligent video surveillance systems and artificial intelligence cameras.
RETAIL
Stock tumble limits buying
Sales posted by department stores in Taiwan rose only 0.1 percent last month from a year earlier to NT$39.6 billion, while revenue posted by hypermarket chains plunged 10.3 percent year-on-year to NT$14.9 billion, as a tumble in the local equity market undermined consumer sentiment and kept them from spending more, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday. Convenience store chains sales rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$27.2 billion, but revenue generated by supermarket operators dropped 0.4 percent to NT$18.7 billion, the ministry said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
OBI drug wins designation
OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) has received “orphan drug” designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new drug for pancreatic cancer, OBI-888. The drug is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody cancer immunotherapy targeting Globo H, a glycolipid antigen, the company said on Wednesday. A phase 1 study of OBI-888 has begun enrolling patients at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The study, including a dose escalation phase and cohort expansion phase, is expected to be completed next year, OBI said.
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
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
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