ELECTRONICS
Apple mulled new modems
Apple Inc considered tapping Samsung Electronics Co and MediaTek Inc (聯發科), along with existing vendor Intel Corp, to supply modem chips for this year’s iPhones, according to testimony by an Apple executive in the US Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust proceedings against Qualcomm on Friday. Apple relied on Qualcomm as the sole supplier of the chips from 2011 to 2016, but split the business between Intel and Qualcomm in 2016. The company last year moved solely to Intel for its newest phones, but has also considered MediaTek and Samsung to supply the 5G chips, Apple supply chain executive Tony Blevins said.
TELECOMS
MOU for 5G progress inked
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) on Thursday said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea 5G Forum to form a strategic partnership for 5G development. The Korea 5G Forum is composed of major South Korean companies including Korea Telecom Co, Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Co, as well as China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
INVESTMENT
Investors in OTC falls in Q4
The number of investors who traded more than NT$100 million (US$3.25 million) in equities on the over-the-counter (OTC) market in the fourth quarter of last year dropped by 275 to 3,001 from a quarter earlier, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday, citing Taipei Exchange tallies. The decrease in the number of OTC investors reflected equity price volatility in the market, which saw the OTC market index decline 7.52 percent in the fourth quarter, the commission said.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure