Carbon emissions cut
The consumption of electricity by government agencies and schools has declined for a third consecutive year thanks to a program that began in 2008, government statistics showed.
The public sector used about 6.59 percent less electricity between 2008 and last year, while the rate of oil saved was 2.53 percent, a 204,000 tonne reduction in carbon emissions, an amount equal to what 547 of Taipei’s Da-an Forest Park can absorb, the Bureau of Energy said.
The annual evaluation of energy conservation efforts at government offices and schools has extended from electricity and oil to water and paper, the bureau said.
The carbon reduction target for 2015 has also been increased to 10 percent less than the levels in 2007, it added.
HTC unveils ‘QQ phone’
Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s fifth-largest smartphone maker, has released its first “QQ phone” equipped with QQ Service solutions to tap the vast Chinese social networking market.
The HTC Chacha is the first model the company has produced in collaboration with Tencent Inc (騰訊), China’s largest and most used Internet service portal, HTC China division president Ray Yam (任偉光) said.
Statistics show that as of June 30, the number of Internet users in China had reached 485 million, 65.5 percent, or 318 million, of them connected to the Internet via their smartphone.
AU Optronics buys back bonds
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s second-largest LCD panel maker, paid US$78.7 million to buy back convertible bonds with a face value of US$100 million, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday.
U-Ming buys Asia Cement bonds
U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (裕民航運) said its Hong Kong unit bought 240 million yuan (US$37.6 million) of Hong Kong-listed Asia Cement China Holdings Corp (亞泥中國) three-year bonds at a yield of 2.95 percent yesterday, while its Singapore unit purchased 128 million yuan of the same bonds, according to statements sent to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Publishers set up subsidiary
Taiwan’s top publishing group, Cite Media Holding Group (城邦媒體), said on Thursday that it had joined with Japan’s leading publisher, Kodansha Ltd, whose products include manga and literary magazines, to establish a digital publishing subsidiary in Taiwan to tap the booming cross-strait digital publishing sector.
The subsidiary has an initial capitalization of NT$50 million (US$1.65 million). It will focus on the Taiwanese market in the initial phase, with about 20,000 electronic titles licensed by Kodansha.
The publisher may move into the Chinese market as soon as the first half of next year and it has plans to develop e-content for digital platforms, such as Apple Inc’s iOS.
Harley marks ROC centennial
Iconic US motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson has produced 100 limited edition bikes engraved with the Chinese characters for “Harley” (哈雷) and “peace” (和平) to mark the Republic of China’s (ROC) centennial, the company’s agent in Taiwan said on Thursday.
The special commemorative edition includes various models, such as the Dyna Super Glide Custom, the Heritage Softail Classic, the Fat Boy, the Road King Classic, the Street Glide and the Ultra Classic Electra Glide, said David Tung (佟德望), a board member of Harley-Davidson’s local agent Swire Pacific Ltd (太古鼎翰).
The 100 limited edition motorcycles are priced between NT$999,000 and NT$1.649 million.
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
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
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
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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