CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding with Tangeng Advanced Vehicles Co (唐榮車輛科技) to jointly develop a homegrown electric bus, with the first vehicle to hit the road as early as March.
CPC and Tangeng are aiming to win the right to operate shuttle services at Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵) stations with a fleet of electric buses, and speed up Taiwan’s adoption of “green” transportation and smart city technologies, the companies told a news conference in Taipei.
CPC is to oversee the rollout of battery charging stations and supply lithium titanate for Tangeng to build quick-charging lithium-titanate (LTO) batteries, while SF-eBus (四方電巴公司), Tangeng’s investee, is to build and operate a fleet of electric buses, they said.
The first electric bus could be launched in Tainan, and high- speed rail stations across Taiwan could potentially have 149 shuttle bus routes, they said.
The project could help CPC accelerate the commercialization of its LTO batteries and other key battery technologies that the state-run refiner has been developing since 2011, CPC said.
Meanwhile, CPC chairman Tai Chein (戴謙) downplayed complaints by its workers’ union, which last week said it would call for a vote of no confidence against him.
The union has said that Tai does not have a background in petrochemicals and has been leading the company astray by taking on other ventures, such as batteries.
Tai, who was appointed about a year ago, also broke protocol by promising double reimbursement to motorists affected by October’s tainted gasoline incident without gaining approval from the board of directors, the union said.
“Battery technology is a vital part of CPC’s transition toward ‘green’ technology and in line with the nation’s plans for industrial innovation,” Tai said, adding that these efforts are not merely side projects.
He also said he accepted the union’s criticisms with thanks.
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
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
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks