Google Inc on Thursday confirmed that an executive behind leading mobile device software Android is leaving the company to create an incubator for hardware startups.
Andy Rubin became a Google executive in 2005 when the Internet titan bought Android Inc, which was then a small startup that Rubin cofounded two years earlier.
Rubin led the Android team at Google until last year, by which time Android was the most widely used smartphone operating system in the world.
Rubin switched to managing the robotics team at Google.
“I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next,” Google chief executive Larry Page said in an e-mail statement.
“With Android he created something truly remarkable with a billion plus happy users. Thank you,” Page wrote.
SPAIN VS GOOGLE
Separately, Spanish lawmakers annoyed Google on Thursday by passing a law that allows media organizations to charge the Internet giant for the right to reproduce their news content.
The US search engine had threatened to shut down its Google News page in Spain if the measures were passed, but the Spanish parliament approved them in a vote on Thursday.
The government hailed the move, saying the measures, part of a new intellectual property law, “recognize the right of publishing companies and news producers to be paid for the use of their content.”
Google responded in a statement: “We are disappointed with the new law because we think services like Google News help publishers to draw traffic to their websites.”
“We will continue working with Spanish publishers to help them increase their revenues while examining our options under the new regulations,” it said.
The law has been dubbed the “Google tax” in Spain, but it would also apply to other big Web companies with pages that reproduce and link to news content, such as Yahoo.
The government said in its statement on Thursday that social networks such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc “are not subject” to the law.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald