Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest telecoms service provider, yesterday said it would offer high-speed WiMAX for free during a pilot run in central Taiwan starting next month.
Commercial launch of the service is scheduled for the end of the year.
During the two-month period ending in June, Far EasTone will provide free Internet service on WiMAX technology in downtown Taichung and around Feng Chia University, where its network is already complete.
The public will be able to test WiMAX at Far EasTone’s four outlets in Taichung on weekends or at booths set up near Feng Chia University on weekdays.
Separately, WiMAX license-holders Global Mobile Corp (全球一動) and Vee Telecom Multimedia Co Ltd (威達超舜) were scheduled to hold press conferences in Taipei today to unveil their technological collaboration with US WiMAX operator Clearwire Corp.
In related developments, third-generation (3G) telecoms service provider Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信) yesterday said its customer base had exceeded 1 million subscribers this month and was well on track to reaching the company’s target of 1.5 million users by the end of the year.
The company said a series of promotional packages, including subsidized netbooks, had helped boost its customer base.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
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TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
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