ENTERTAINMENT
HTC, Bandai Namco team up
HTC Corp (宏達電) is working with Japanese video game publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc to promote its first virtual-reality (VR) headset, the HTC Vive, in Tokyo. HTC said it has set up five VR zones in Tokyo featuring large arcades that give visitors the opportunity to experience the fun of Vive by trying experiences such as skiing, operating a train and fighting zombies in an abandoned hospital. The collaboration with Bandai Namco comes as HTC is seeking to take Vive to large shopping malls in Japan in an effort to attract more consumers.
ENTERTAINMENT
Chou unveils Totalmotion
Futuretown Inc honorary chairman Peter Chou (周永明) yesterday unveiled the company’s 5D Totalmotion platform for VR games at the company’s booth at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan. That was Chou’s first public appearance after he resigned as CEO of HTC in March last year. Futuretown is a Taoyuan-based start-up that focuses on VR games and devices. The company’s 5D Totalmotion is a cylindrical motion feedback machine that allows users to simulate various types of scenarios while playing VR games, Futuretown said in a statement.
SOLAR POWER
Sino-American debuts plant
Solar cell manufacturer Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (中美矽晶) yesterday launched a new solar cell plant in Germany with an annual capacity of 100 megawatts (MW). The new plant, operated by the company’s German subsidiary, Aleo Solar GmbH, is to produce 30MW of poly-crystalline and mono-crystalline solar cells this year, the company said. The facility’s capacity can be expanded to 200MW, it said.
BATTERIES
Formosa Mitsui starts output
Formosa Mitsui Advanced Chemicals Co, a joint venture of Japan-based Mitsui Chemicals Inc and Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), yesterday announced the launch of its lithium-ion battery-use electrolyte solution production facilities at a Formosa Plastics industrial complex in Ningbo, China. The companies said in a joint statement that demand for lithium-ion batteries has expanded in line with growth of the laptop, smartphone and tablet markets. In the future, greater market growth is forecast for the mobility market due to a surge in demand for environmentally-friendly hybrid and electric vehicles, especially in China, it said.
AIRLINES
Vanilla launches new route
Japanese low-cost carrier Vanilla Air Inc yesterday launched a new route between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Ho Chi Minh City, one day before it was scheduled to begin a service between Taoyuan and Okinawa, Japan. “The Taiwanese market is very, very important to us,” Vanilla Air president Katsuya Goto said, adding that the carrier hopes to make Taiwan its “second base” and plans to add more flights between Taiwan and destinations outside of Japan.
? INVESTMENT
MassMutual revives Barings
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co announced that it has completed the integration of four subsidiaries and that its services would be provided as a unified company under the 254-year-old Barings name. The investment needs of clients in Taiwan would benefit from expanded coverage across asset classes including global fixed income, equity, real estate and alternative asset markets from the firm’s integrated footprint, Barings said.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
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