REAL ESTATE
A8 auction fails to win bids
The auction of Shin Kong Life Insurance Co’s (新光人壽) A8 commercial complex in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) fell through yesterday because the deal failed to attract any offers, bidding organizer Jones Lang LaSalle Taiwan (仲量聯行) said in a statement. The result is not surprising because the asking price of NT$28 billion (US$861.27 million) for the building would generate a return of 2.46 percent, lower than the minimum 2.805 percent yield required for domestic life insurers, analysts said. The organizer said it would continue negotiations between the seller and potential buyers in an attempt to facilitate the deal. The A8 building houses a branch of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨) chain.
? retail
Farglory to open iFG mall
Farglory Group (遠雄集團) on Friday is to tap the retail business by opening an iFG Shopping Mall in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), which has a floor area of 31,570 ping (107,471m2), with four floors above ground and a basement. The shopping mall is the group’s first attempt to expand into the retail business. It is to feature 200 stores and a variety of restaurants, the group said. Farglory Group has businesses ranging from property construction and hotels to life insurance, solar power and biotechnology.
BANKING
S&P retains ‘Group 4’ rating
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services yesterday said it has kept its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) for Taiwan at “Group 4,” as the agency views the nation’s economic and industrial environment as stable. Other nations in the “Group 4” category are Malaysia, Mexico and Israel, S&P said in a statement. The rating reflects S&P’s confidence in Taiwan’s financial system, although property prices are likely to undergo a modest and orderly decline over the next two years and even though bank earnings are likely to remain subdued over the next one to two years, the statement said. S&P also said the likelihood of meaningful industry consolidation would be low over the next two to three years.
FINANCE
HTC backs Surgical Theater
HTC Corp (宏達電) has participated in a US$9 million fundraising effort by US-based Surgical Theater LLC to help the latter develop virtual reality and image guidance software for healthcare. The US company develops solutions that help surgeons consult with patients, plan complex surgical procedures and use medical imaging during surgery and post-operative reviews, the company said on Monday. China-based Shanghai Creation Investment Management Co (上海創投) also participated in Surgical Theater’s latest fundraising drive, the US firm said in a statement.
CHIPMAKERS
Powerchip to invest in China
Local chipmaker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first plant in China, in Hefei, Anhui Province. The company plans to invest a total of US$230 million in the 12-inch wafer plant, which is to be jointly owned by Powerchip and Hefei Construction Investment and Holding Co (合肥市建設投資控股). The new plant is scheduled to start operations in October 2017 and is to produce 40,000 12-inch wafers per month initially. Powerchip plans to use the plant to produce driver integrated circuits for LCD TV panels.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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