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 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],”