SEMICONDUCTORS
Book-to-bill ratio still high
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as Applied Materials Inc, climbed to 1.09 last month — the highest level since May 2012, industry association SEMI said yesterday. That marked the ninth consecutive month that the ratio has been above one. A book-to-bill ratio greater than one indicates growth for the industry. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in the sector rose 4.3 percent to US$1.47 billion last month from May’s US$1.41 billion, according to SEMI’s data. The three-month average of worldwide billings fell 4.8 percent to US$1.34 billion last month from US$1.41 billion in May.
PHARMACEUTICALS
OBI Pharma trials set
OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) announced on Monday that it had met the goal of collecting 342 patients for the phase two and three clinical trials for OBI-822, a new drug for treating metastatic breast cancer. OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈) said the completion of the patient collection phase shows the OBI-822 project is progressing more smoothly than expected. The company is to analyze the data after the last patient completes the treatment stage, he said. The multinational clinical test is being conducted as a randomized control trial in which 45 medical centers across Taiwan, the US, South Korea, India and Hong Kong are participating, the company said.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS