■ ULVAC eyes Tainan plant
Japanese liquid-crystal-display (LCD) giant ULVAC Kyushu Corp announced yesterday that it will set up plants in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) to produce new-generation LCD panels. Once the investment is approved, ULVAC will become the 15th Japanese company with operations in the science park. Toshiaki Fujioka, president of ULVAC, made the announcement in the administration office of the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. According to ULVAC's Taiwan branch, the Japanese company's initial investment will exceed NT$1 billion (US$31.34 million). Chen Tsung-hsing, chief executive officer of ULVAC Taiwan, said that if the first-stage investment results are lucrative, a second and third stage will follow. Most of Taiwan's flat-panel manufacturers are clients of ULVAC, including Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), an ULVAC official said.
■ Most honey not pure
It seems that most honey consumed in Taiwan is not pure, with only two of 37 honey brands passing a recent purity test, a Consumers' Foundation (消基會) official said yesterday. Among the 37 samples chosen randomly from supermarkets, traditional markets, shopping malls and organic product shops, the Consumers' Foundation found that only two samples could be considered to be first or second-grade. The analysis included amylase and cane-sugar tests. Of the 37 samples tested, two were from the US -- both failed -- and one was from France, which passed. The official said that some bee farmers add fructose to disguise the mixture as pure honey in order to reap great profits.
■ Amex appoints regional head
American Express Co, the fourth-biggest US credit-card issuer, promoted Anthony Lee to head its units in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, to help the company expand in the region. Lee, born in Singapore, joined American Express in 1977, the company said in an e-mailed release. He has been the chief executive of American Express Hong Kong since 2003. Lee, who starts immediately, will lead the company's card business in Greater China, based in Hong Kong, American Express spokeswoman Susanna Hui said. American Express has teamed up with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the nation's largest lender, to sell credit cards in the world's most populous nation
■ Asustek gets Sony contract
With lower costs than rivals such as Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), Taiwan's fifth-largest notebook maker, secured a contract from Sony Corp for notebook computers, according to a Chinese-language report yesterday, without citing sources. Shipments of the high-end laptop computers for Sony will be started in the second quarter next year with a capacity of 10,000 units to 20,000 units per month, the report said. Asustek declined to comment on the report. Asustek was also reportedly to gain notebook-computer orders from Hewlett-Packard Co. The company plans to ship 3.8 million notebook computers this year with OEM orders accounting for 2.3 million units, according to the report. ■ NT dollar falls back
The New Taiwan dollar declined against the US dollar in Taipei yesterday, losing NT$0.129 to close at NT$31.949 on speculation that the US Federal Reserve may hike its benchmark interest rates this week. A total of US$1.03 billion changed hands yesterday.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
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
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
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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