PHARMACEUTICALS
Lotus upgrades facility
Generic drugmaker Lotus Pharmaceuticals Co (美時化學製藥) yesterday announced that it has begun upgrading its manufacturing facility in Nantou County to expand the production of oral oncology products. The upgrade is expected to be completed in five years and cost tens of millions of US dollars, the company said, adding that its board has approved capital expenditure of US$11 million for this year. The Nantou site has been audited by local, US, EU and Japanese regulatory authorities, enabling it to manufacture products for nearly every market in the world, the firm said. In addition to standard solid oral dose manufacturing, the company can produce hormonal products, soft gelatin capsules, and cytotoxic and high-potency molecules, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Health2Sync launches app
Taipei-based Health2Sync (慧康生活科技) yesterday launched HealthPass, an app that grants its users full control of their health data using blockchain technology. The start-up teamed up with Bitmark Inc, a Taipei-based blockchain developer, to register users’ health data as their personal digital property. Users would be able to selectively allow certain companies and services to access their health data as part of a monetization scheme. The start-up has also tapped CTBC Bank (中信銀行) to use the lender’s blockchain-based solution to enable transactions resulting from monetization. With the help of health data analysis, insurers would be able to create tailored products based on each user’s health, the firm said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharmally sales up 20.27%
Pharmally International Holding Co (康友製藥), a maker of large-volume parenteral solutions for vaccines and intravenous medicines, yesterday announced that net income last year rose 17.44 percent year-on-year to NT$1.1 billion (US$35.59 million), or earnings per share of NT$14.29, while sales rose 20.27 percent to NT$5.18 billion. Pharmally shares closed unchanged at NT$214 in Taipei trading yesterday. The shares last year saw a spike in volatility, surging to more than NT$500 on progress made at its Indonesian poultry vaccine production plant, before falling below NT$140 after a filing revealed that company officials were trimming their holdings.
ELECTRONICS
Pegatron revenue slumps
Pegatron Corp (和碩) on Monday reported that revenue last month dropped 33.4 percent month-on-month, but rose 6.2 percent year-on-year to NT$81.65 billion. Revenue in the first two months rose 3.2 percent year-on-year to NT$204.28 billion, it said. The Jakarta Post reported that Pegatron’s new plant in Indonesia is expected to begin operations next month. Separately, Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) on Monday reported that revenue last month declined 30.33 percent month-on-month and 16.6 percent year-on-year to NT$10.87 billion. Revenue in the first two months also fell 10.36 percent to NT$26.48 billion.
ELECTRONICS
Chungwa Picture shares fall
A plan to lay off 2,500 employees sent shares in Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (華映) into a tailspin yesterday, dealers said. The heavy selling emerged after the Taiwan Stock Exchange said that the financially troubled panel maker, which has filed for bankruptcy protection, would have to delist regardless of whether the restructuring plan is approved by the courts. Shares fell by the daily limit of 10 percent to close at NT$0.54.
RECRUITMENT: The latest hiring drive — for fabs in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan — aims to catch up with growth in the company and new technology development Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday unveiled a plan to hire 9,000 people this year in the latest round of recruitment as the chipmaker races to boost capacity to alleviate a chip crunch and safeguard its technology advantage. TSMC’s talent recruitment this year might be the most ambitious in its history, while last year’s drive of 8,000 added recruits doubled the 4,000 new hires that it averaged over the preceding few years. The latest drive — for fabs in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan — aims to catch up with growth in the company and new technology development, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said. The
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 supplier of silicon wafers, yesterday said that it has acquired a 70.27 percent stake in German competitor Siltronic AG, in a public bid that ended four days ago. With the acquisition of a controlling stake in Siltronic, the Taiwanese company is to become the world’s second-largest silicon wafer supplier. Last month, GlobalWafers secured more than 50 percent of Siltronic shares with an offer of 4.35 billion euros (US$5.2 billion) in a public tender that was due to end on Feb. 10, but the acceptance period was extended until Monday. In a statement released yesterday, the Hsinchu-based
Clean energy use and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions are the common consciousness of all countries in the world. Among them, the introduction of renewable energy storage systems and the promotion of electric vehicles are the unanimous implementation of governments and enterprises around the world. The most critical strategic component is the lithium ion battery. Whoever has a higher energy density, lower cost, and higher safety lithium battery will control the development trend of this wave of safer lithium battery technology. All-solid-state batteries are a goal that everyone is striving to pursue. However, the stable and large scale production of solid-state
CHASING AFTER THE US: China is scrambling to cut its dependence on the West for crucial components such as computer chips, an issue that has become more urgent China pledged to boost spending and drive research into cutting-edge chips and artificial intelligence (AI) in its latest five-year targets, laying out a technological blueprint to vie for global influence with the US. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) singled out key areas in which to achieve “major breakthroughs in core technologies,” including high-end semiconductors, operating systems, computer processors and cloud computing — areas in which US firms now hold sway. Beijing would also aim to get 56 percent of the country on faster 5G networks. Nationwide research and development spending is to increase by more than 7 percent annually, which “is expected to
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