FOOD & BEVERAGE
Famonn cafe chain to close
Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品集團) yesterday confirmed the closure its cafe chain Famonn Coffee (曼咖啡) this month. Wowprime spokesman Chu Shu-ting (朱書霆) was quoted by Unique Satellite TV as saying that due to Famonn Coffee’s weaker-than-expected profitability, Wowprime decided to close the five remaining outlets at the end of this month. Famonn Coffee, which had 13 outlets at its peak, is one of 15 food and beverage chains owned by Wowprime.
INTERNET
Yahoo mobile views spike
Yahoo Inc Taiwan yesterday said that its weekly mobile page views have increased by 50 percent since it revamped the mobile version of its search engine last month. Yahoo Taiwan’s new mobile version went live last month, with a simplified page design, a constant stream of news articles and popular videos, which have been included on the Yahoo home page for PC users since March. The increased volume could boost the company’s local advertising revenue from mobile devices, which already accounts for more than half of the total, Yahoo Taiwan managing director Erika Wang (王興) said.
RETAIL
Pi launches QR payments
A subsidiary of Taiwan-based Web portal PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) on Wednesday launched a mobile transaction system to facilitate virtual shopping by scanning the QR codes of products advertised on billboards and posters. Pi Mobile Technology Inc (拍付國際), a mobile payment arm of PChome that was established in January, said the new transaction system is to expand the reach of its digital wallet service beyond individual consumers to the commercial sector. PChome chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) said the new “shopping wall” system is expected to expand mobile transactions in Taiwan, where about 75 percent of consumers are still using cash, compared with only 20 percent to 30 percent in Nordic nations that promote virtual currencies.
ELECTRONICS
Projector shipments fall
Shipments of projectors in Taiwan dropped by an annual 11.4 percent in the first quarter due to delays in supply contracts to schools, according to data compiled by research group International Data Corp (IDC). The 19,926 projectors shipped in the January-to-March period also represented a decline of 9 percent from the fourth quarter last year. The slide during the first quarter, which is traditionally a slow season for electronic goods, was aggravated by two key factors, IDC said in a report on Tuesday. Education sector demand was weaker than normal because of delays in issuing supply contracts, while there were fewer business days in the quarter because of the Lunar New Year holiday, IDC said. Epson remained Taiwan’s projector market leaders, with a market share of 33.7 percent in the first quarter, followed by Optoma Corp (奧圖碼), NEC, BenQ Corp (明基) and Vivitek Corp, the report said.
TELECOMS
Far EasTone offers free phone
Subscribers to Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (遠傳電信) new 4G rate plan are to be able to get Xiaomi Corp (小米) Redmi 2s for free on a service contract. The new plan allows subscribers 2 gigabytes (GB) of Internet usage for NT$298 per month. The company also launched a new 4G rate plan with 5GB of Internet usage for NT$698 per month.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
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