Hoya Corp opens new plant
Japan-based Hoya Corp, the world's largest supplier of optical glass to the semiconductor industry, on Monday inaugurated a new plant in the Hsinchu Science Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) to make photomasks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Photomasks are glass plates containing patterns of a microchip's circuitry. This component is used to produce liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Hoya will initially invest NT$200 million in making photomasks to meet the increasing demand from local LCD manufacturers, the ministry said in a statement. The investment will reach NT$1.5 billion in the next few years, the statement added. As local LCD makers are planning to build fifth-generation flat panel factories, Hoya will also produce photomasks used for large-sized thin-film transistor LCDs (TFT-LCD) in the second half of next year, the statement said.
RBS target budget hotels
The popular Retail Booking System (RBS) called a news conference yesterday in Taipei to attract domestic economy and budget hotels to its worldwide Internet booking service. The system provides backpackers with greater access to more economic options for online hotel bookings, an RBS executive said. Almost all five-star hotels in Taiwan are part of the RBS, and the system now is hoping to seek small and medium-sized hotels to offer foreign customers more short-term accommodation on the Internet, the RBS official said. Lai Seh-jen (賴瑟珍), deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, said the RBS offers an effective channel for Taiwan's economy hotels and youth hostels to sharpen their international distribution, particularly among the many young and individual backpackers who are the prevailing force in the global tourism market.
China Life to support affiliate
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) said it will support an attempt by affiliate KGI Securities Co (中信證券) to secure seats on the board of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing a China Life official. The Taiwanese insurer also urged China Development unit China Development Industrial Bank (中華開發銀行) not to use its 7.1 percent stake in the parent to support management, the report said. The report didn't say how many seats KGI is seeking. KGI holds more than 200 million shares, or 2 percent, in China Development, the newspaper said. China Development, Taiwan's fifth-largest financial services company by market value, is scheduled to hold a shareholders meeting on April 5 to elect a new board. Investors must acquire shares by Feb. 6 to vote. The government plans to ban financial holding companies from using cross-shareholdings with units to keep control of the parent, Finance Minister Lin Chuan (林全) said on Thursday.
Rumors of big buying
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), Taiwan's third-largest financial company by market value, said it wants to buy International Investment Trust Co (國際投信), an asset-management company, a Chinese-language newspaper said on Friday. The paper said Mega will pay cash for closely held International Investment Trust.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.007 to close at NT$34.052 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$413 million.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
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