■ Delegation investigates RFID
A Taiwanese delegation departed for the US over the weekend, aiming to gain insight about the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology there, the National Science Council said in a statement yesterday. The 36-member delegation, which consists of government officials, industry associations and private companies, is scheduled to visit various US government agencies and companies such as IBM Corp and Oracle Corp between July 31 and Aug. 9. "The application of RFID has become a global trend since the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart earlier this year required its major [top 100] suppliers to adopt the technology [by January 2005]," Minister without Portfolio Lin Ferng-ching (林逢慶), who is also head of the delegation, said in the statement. RFID, an identifying and tracking technology, allows tiny chips (tags) to communicate with detectors wirelessly and transmit information from a unique serial number to complex product details. The technology is now applied to many fields, including national defense, logistics management, retail inventory management, and is expected to affect industrial supply chains, medical treatment and biotech in the future, Lin said
■ CSMC halves IPO plan
CSMC Technologies Corp (華潤上華科技), a China-based supplier of chips for consumer electronics, toys and watches, is reviving its initial public offer by slashing the amount it raises by half after investors shunned the sale. CSMC plans to sell 621 million shares at between HK$0.50 and HK$0.54 each in the revived sale, raising as much as HK$335.3 million (US$43 million), chief financial officer Frank Lai (黎汝雄) said. That's as much as half the maximum amount it planned to raise in June. The company last month failed to complete its initial public offer after investors bid at a price lower than the range marketed to them. The reduced price range represents between 1 to 1.05 times its 2004 forecast book value, Lai said. The company plans to re-open the public offer today and investors have until Friday to place their orders, Lai said. It plans to start trading in Hong Kong on Aug. 13. The revived sale comes after shares of its peer Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路) rose 6.4 percent since last week. The first Chinese chipmaker to sell shares overseas posted its third straight quarterly profit by tripling sales last week.
■ Uni-President may exit JVs
Uni-President Group (統一集團) is planning to dispose of its stakes in property and life insurance joint ventures with Allianz Holding AG, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. Uni-President may want to sell its stake in both the Allianz President Insurance Co and Allianz President General Insurance, the paper said, citing Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿), head of Uni-President. Currently two insurers -- Tokyo Marine & Fire Insurance Co and Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co -- are interested in buying Allianz President General Insurance, the paper added.
■ NT rises in line with yen, euro
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart in line with the strength in Japanese yen and euro, dealers said. The US dollar eased against the yen and euro in Asian trade yesterday after the US economy grew at a weaker-than-expected rate in the second quarter this year, they added. The NT dollar rose NT$0.033 against the greenback to close at NT$33.103 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$260 million.
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
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