RENEWABLE ENERGY
Motech to lay off workers
Solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said it plans to lay off 916 employees as part of its efforts to stay afloat. A cutback in solar-power subsidies in China has exacerbated already weak demand for solar energy products, it said. The job cuts are to take place on Jan. 28, the Tainan-based company said in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. As part of its turnaround efforts, it would only produce high-efficiency solar cells and solar modules, as well as expanding into solar panel assembly, the company said.
TECHNOLOGY
E Ink links with start-up
E-paper display supplier E Ink Holdings Co (元太科技) yesterday said it has formed a strategic partnership with a Chinese LCD panel start-up to develop and sell large e-paper displays for industrial devices, the Internet of Things and other premium electronics. The newly established LCD panel maker, based in Zhejiang Province’s Ningbo, has received start-up money from Guangzhou New Vision Optoelectronic Co (廣州新視界光電) and other investors, E Ink said. The Chinese panel maker would make large-sized LCD panels at a new G7.5 plant for E Ink, the company said. E Ink said it would also broaden the partnership into e-paper film manufacturing and e-paper module assembling.
INTERNET
Line developer forum planned
Japanese mobile messaging giant Line Corp is set to hold Line Taiwan TechPulse — its annual software developer conference — in Taiwan on Dec. 21, featuring an Internet of Things (IoT) interactive zone, an executive at Line Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線) said on Tuesday. This year’s theme is “interaction,” and developers would use the interactive zone to learn how to create more people-to-people interactions and conduct information and service exchanges through the messaging platform, Line Taiwan research and development director Marco Chen (陳鴻嘉) said. A wide range of apps would be available at the event, including Line Chatbot, through which participants can register and report their arrival at events, Chen said. In the IoT interactive area, attendees would be able to carry out interactive tasks and play games using apps to control devices at the site.
TRADE
Taiwan, Japan meet on trade
Taiwan and Japan are set to sign five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) after their annual two-day economic and trade meeting, which begins today in Taipei, with the objective of enhancing cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The closed-door meeting is to take place at the Ambassador Hotel. Taiwan-Japan Relations Association President Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi are to lead the delegations in discussions on a wide range of economic and trade issues, the ministry said. Taiwan is expected to express its interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, being led by Japan. The Japanese are likely to voice hopes that Taiwan would lift a ban on food imports from five prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster, despite the passage of a referendum on Saturday last week to maintain the ban.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
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