MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, yesterday said it had won approval from South Korean regulators to merge with smaller rival MStar Semiconductor Inc (晨星半導體).
However, the merger between the two has been postponed again as they await approval from Chinese antitrust authorities, the two companies said in separate filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Both companies were notified yesterday by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) that they had secured regulatory approval for the merger.
“Considering that the deal still faces regulatory review in China, the companies propose to tentatively change the effective date for the merger to Aug. 1 from May 1,” they said in their filings.
In December last year, the companies announced pushing back the effective date for the merger from the original Jan. 1 to May 1, due to antitrust concerns in South Korea and China.
MediaTek in June last year announced that it planned to acquire LCD TV chip designer MStar in a deal estimated to be worth NT$115 billion (US$3.86 billion), as the Hsinchu-based company seeks to broaden its product portfolio to compete with rivals such as US-based Qualcomm Inc and China’s Spreadtrum Communications (展訊通信).
Taiwan’s FTC gave the green light to the deal in August last year.
MStar shares closed up 0.43 percent at NT$232, while those of MediaTek fell 0.88 percent to NT$338.5, both outpacing the benchmark TAIEX, which dropped 1.47 percent.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people