AIRLINES
EVA postpones new routes
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday announced that it would delay the start of direct flights to and from Milan, Italy, which were originally scheduled to start on Feb. 18. Italy announced a ban on flights from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau from Sunday last week to April 28 to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus. EVA said that it would also delay the start of services to Phuket, Thailand, which were to begin on April 2, due to concerns about the outbreak. The airline did not specify when it would begin such flights, but said that it would help affected travelers change or cancel their bookings.
CEMENT
TCC delays work resumption
Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥) yesterday said in a regulatory filing that some of its plants in China would delay the resumption of operations further from Sunday to Feb. 16, amid a coronavirus outbreak in the country. The move “might have some effects on TCC’s financial figures this year,” the company said. TCC said that it is monitoring developments on the outbreak and the health of all its employees, adding that it has adopted measures to minimize the effects of the outbreak on its operations.
SMARTPHONES
HTC consolidated sales drop
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales last month fell 21.37 percent from a month earlier and 52.43 percent from a year earlier to NT$478.36 million (US$15.9 million), company data released yesterday showed. Analysts attributed the decline to lower shipments and fewer working days last month due to the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as growing competition in the global smartphone market.
TECHNOLOGY
Aten revenue slides annually
Aten International Co Ltd (宏正自動科技), which provides information technology infrastructure solutions, yesterday posted revenue of NT$378.73 million for last month, a 0.59 percent year-on-year decrease. Aten said that sales in its information technology infrastructure access management solutions segment increased 7 percent year-on-year and those in its audio-video business decreased 7 percent, while USB and other peripherals declined 3 percent.
NAVIGATION
Google unveils bike feature
Google Maps yesterday launched its bicycle navigation feature in Taiwan, making it the first nation in Asia to have access to the service. The new feature provides optimized routes for cyclists that take into account bike lanes and gradients, Google said, adding that it is available on computers and smartphones. Cyclists can also view a specialized version of Google Maps that highlights bike trails, streets with dedicated bicycle lanes and bicycle-friendly roads nationwide, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Growth reaches annual high
The local manufacturing sector had sluggish growth in December last year, with the index gauging the sector’s climate rising from a month earlier as trade talks between the US and China moved in a positive direction, along with a booming equity market, data released on Wednesday by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) showed. The composite index for the sector rose to its highest level for last year of 11.15 points, up 0.93 points from a revised 10.22 points a month earlier. The institute forecast that the sector would continue to see a mild recovery this year.
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