SMARTPHONES
HTC begins taking Litecoin
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday announced that it has added Litecoin to the list of cryptocurrencies it would accept for purchases of the Exodus 1, its blockchain-focused smartphone. HTC previously only accepted Bitcoin and Ether. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee (李啟威) is also to join HTC’s Exodus 1 development team as a consultant. The handset, equipped with the Zion wallet to facilitate secured cryptocurrency payments and storage, as well as private keys, began shipping on Wednesday, HTC said, adding that it plans to add support for other cryptocurrencies, as well as ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. Separately on Wednesday, Telstra Corp Ltd, Australia’s biggest telecom, tapped HTC to develop a 5G smart hub, which is to launch in that country next year.
BANKING
FSC approves ANZ merger
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday approved an application by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) to merge its Taiwanese subsidiary, ANZ Bank Taiwan (澳盛台灣商業銀行), into its local branch, which is to take effect on April 8. The local branch would have a working capital of NT$20 billion (US$648.2 million), the highest level among foreign banks’ branches in the nation, the commission said, adding that it requires banks that focus on corporate clients to have a minimum working capital of NT$200 million.
RESTAURANTS
Din Tai Fung opens in UK
Popular restaurant chain Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), known for its xiaolongbao (小龍包) steamed dumplings, on Wednesday launched its first European store in London. Located in Covent Garden, the Taipei-based chain’s 153rd restaurant is housed on two floors and can seat 250 people. Founded in 1958, Din Tai Fung opened its first international restaurant in Japan in 1996, followed by Singapore in 2003. The UK is the world’s fifth-largest economy and London is a major European financial and transportation hub whose residents are known for their spending power, Din Tai Fung said.
TOURISM
Da Nang top new destination
Vietnam’s Da Nang is the most popular new emerging tourist city for Taiwanese travelers, according to a survey on next year’s travel destinations released yesterday by hotel booking Web site Booking.com. The other top emerging travel destinations for Taiwanese are Daegu, South Korea; Porto, Portugal; Sendai, Japan; and Cebu City, Philippines, the Web site said. Over the past few years, Taiwanese have preferred destinations that are not only special, but also less well known, the Web site said, adding that Da Nang became the favorite because of its low cost of living, authentic Vietnamese culture and My Khe Beach.
EQUITIES
TAIEX down as region falls
Local shares were hammered yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 2.34 percent to less than 9,700 points as investors took cues from a dive on other Asian markets to dump tech stocks. Regional market sentiment was dampened after the arrest in Canada of Huawei Technologies Co (華為) chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) for alleged breaches of US sanctions on Iran, fanning concerns about supply chain disruptions and setbacks in US-China trade talks. Taiwanese suppliers to Apple Inc also came under pressure, as HSBC Holdings PLC downgraded its rating on the US tech giant from “buy” to “hold.”
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