SOLAR POWER
AUO installations to double
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) expects to double its solar panel installations in Taiwan to 125 megawatts this year. The company on Tuesday said it has completed the installation of rooftop solar panels for television and online retailer Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) and for automotive components maker Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大工業). AUO has also secured projects with the Chung Chen Armed Forces Preparatory School and Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業) among others, it said.
INTERNET
Yahoo Taiwan reaches 60m
Yahoo Taiwan Holding Ltd (雅虎台灣), a subsidiary of Oath Inc, yesterday said its live-streaming auction mobile app has acquired more than 60 million viewers in Taiwan since it launched the streaming service in April. More than 1,800 sellers on Yahoo Taiwan’s auction platform have used the live-streaming service, the company said, adding that more than 20 auctions are hosted each day. Food, cosmetics, accessories and women’s clothing auctions are the most popular in Taiwan, the company said.
LOGISTICS
Pchomestore expands services
PChomestore Inc (商店街), a subsidiary of PChome Inc (網路家庭), yesterday partnered with Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) to provide free drop-off and collection services for sellers and buyers, as part of its strategy to expand its free shipping promotion. Adding to its collaboration with President Chain Store Corp’s (PCSC, 統一超商) 7-Eleven convenience stores in August, its drop-off and pick-up service has expanded to 8,200 convenience stores nationwide, PChomestore said.
TECHNOLOGY
Perfect Corp raises US$25m
Taipei-based Perfect Corp (玩美移動), developer of the YouCam Perfect selfie and photography editor app, yesterday said it has raised US$25 million in its first round of venture capital financing. The company, an investee of Cyberlink Corp (訊連科技), said that it would use the funds to further develop the augmented reality and machine learning capabilities of its app. The app has garnered 500 million users and is among the top “beauty technology” offerings. It is expected to secure more than 150 partners in the beauty products industry over the next two years, including L’Oreal SA, MAC Cosmetics, Yves Saint Laurent YSL and Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.
SHIPBUILDING
Task force to probe Ching Fu
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday voted to form a special task force to investigate the potential collapse of a sizeable contract with Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船) to build minesweeper vessels for the Republic of China Navy. Taxpayers could be forced to bear losses of more than NT$10 billion (US$331.13 million), as the shipbuilder borrowed NT$34.93 billion from state-run banks through a syndicated loan, of which about half have been transferred to the firm. Lawmakers across party lines questioned whether the banks had failed to detect financial irregularities during their loan approval process. As of this month, the shipbuilder has failed to service its debt for a second consecutive month. State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) told lawmakers that it expects to recover NT$7.9 billion held in reserve by the Ministry of National Defense, as well as another NT$3 billion held in reserve by the shipbuilder.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
As South Korea descends into political chaos, its equity market risks falling further behind major tech rival Taiwan, which is basking in the glory of a global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. A near-30 percent surge in Taiwan’s stock benchmark this year, set to be the best since 2009, has already helped spur a historic divergence between Asia’s two tech-dominated markets. The nation’s market capitalization now exceeds South Korea’s by about US$950 billion as the world’s AI frontrunners from Nvidia Corp and Microsoft Corp to OpenAI all increasingly turn to Taiwanese firms for supply. Looking ahead to next year, while both export-oriented economies
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