Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) yesterday said the ministry would provide smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) with assistance, if necessary, to deal with the litigation on patent infringement brought against it by Apple Inc.
Shih told lawmakers at a legislative session that the ministry has kept in close touch with HTC to keep informed of the progress of the litigation.
HTC said on Wednesday that shipments of HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE models to the US market have been delayed by a review of the US Customs requested by the US International Trade Commission (USITC).
INFRINGED
The customs review came after the USITC ruled in December last year that HTC infringed on one of Apple’s patents involving data detection.
HTC shares staged a mild technical rebound to close up 0.73 percent at NT$414 yesterday, following a decline of 6.59 percent in the previous session amid concerns that the shipment delay would impact its second-quarter sales.
SALES GROWTH
On April 24, HTC forecast its sales for the second quarter would reach NT$105 billion (US$3.55 billion), up 55 percent from the first quarter.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch said if the products are detained by the US Customs for four weeks, HTC’s sales for the second quarter will be reduced by 5 percent to 10 percent, while CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said HTC’s share price will be under pressure in the near term as the market does not like uncertainty.
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
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
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
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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