TECHNOLOGY
Foxconn’s Brazil plan ‘intact’
A massive investment plan in Brazil initiated by Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) to produce gadgets for US consumer electronics giant Apple Inc remains intact, Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante said on Friday. Mercadante said Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, would start to produce iPads and iPhones at its new Brazilian plant by the end of this year as scheduled. The comments came after a Reuters report that last week said Foxconn’s planned US$12 billon (NT$366 billion) investment was “in doubt.” The report said Foxconn had faced problems, including a breakdown in negotiations with Brazilian authorities over tax breaks and a lack of skilled workers for the facility in Jundiai, Sao Paolo state. The ministry said Foxconn has started a training course for its 1,000 new Brazilian employees.
EUROZONE
Slovakia pledges support
Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova on Friday said her country’s parliament should approve new powers for the eurozone’s bailout fund by Oct. 14, which would clear a major obstacle to a key part of the bloc’s strategy for handling its debt crisis. Objections by a junior governing party in a country of only 5 million people have cast uncertainty over activating plans to strengthen the fund — showing once again the eurozone’s slow and unwieldy decisionmaking in times of crisis. The new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) were agreed by eurozone leaders in July to forestall a messy Greek default and a wider meltdown in other debt-laden members, such as Italy and Spain. So far, 14 of the currency bloc’s 17 members have approved a wider mandate for the 440 billion euro (US$589 billion) EFSF so it can make emergency loans, rescue banks and help sovereigns under attack from markets. Following a one-on-one meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Radicova said the Slovak parliament would ratify the EFSF’s expansion before a summit of EU leaders scheduled for Oct. 17 and 18.
INTERNET
Microsoft fixes program
Microsoft raced on Friday to fix an anti-virus program that targeted Google’s Chrome browsing software as a malicious threat and kicked it off computers. Microsoft said the case of mistaken coding identity lasted about three hours and affected about 3,000 users. “An incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified and as a result, Google Chrome was inadvertently blocked and in some cases removed from customers’ PCs” Microsoft said at a malware protection Facebook page. An update to free Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus software had mistakenly targeted Chrome as a troublesome computer virus tailored to steal online banking information.
TECHNOLOGY
TPK plans to sell shares
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) plans to sell between 16 million and 20 million new shares through global depositary receipts (GDRs) to fund its unit’s expansion and to buy equipment, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday. Its shareholder Balda Investments Singapore Pte plans to sell between 7.6 million and 9.5 million TPK common shares in the form of GDRs, the company said in a separate statement. Meanwhile, TPK Universal Solutions Ltd acquired 80 percent of CIM Corp for NT$14.3 million, parent TPK Holding said in a statement on Friday.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS