TELECOMS
ZTE halts operations
Chinese telecom ZTE Corp (中興通訊) said its major operations had “ceased” following last month’s US ban on US sales of critical technology to the company, raising the possibility of its collapse. “Major operating activities of the company have ceased” as a result of the US decision, it said in a filing on Wednesday. ZTE, which makes telecoms equipment and handsets, is still “actively communicating” with the US side “to facilitate the modification or reversal” of the ban and “forge a positive outcome,” the filing said.
CHIPMAKERS
Qualcomm’s new buy back
Qualcomm Inc unveiled a new plan to buy back US$10 billion in stock, replacing an earlier repurchase program that was almost exhausted. The San Diego, California-based maker of cellphone chips said the plan authorized by the board has no expiration date. The previous buyback was a US$15 billion program that had US$1.2 billion remaining, it said on Wednesday. CEO Steve Mollenkopf reiterated that the company is still executing on the proposed acquisition of Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV before a July 25 deadline.
LOGISTICS
Uber to test food drones
Uber Technologies Inc plans to deliver food by drone in San Diego as part of a wide-reaching commercial test program approved on Wednesday by the US federal government, chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi said. People should expect meal delivery in five to 30 minutes, Khosrowshahi said. The US Department of Transportation said it chose 10 state, local and tribal governments and a handful of companies, including Alphabet Inc, FedEx Corp, Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Uber, to work together on commercial drone testing.
BANKING
RBS fined US$4.9 billion
Britain’s state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) yesterday said that it has been fined US$4.9 billion by the US Department of Justice over its role in the subprime crisis. RBS said it reached a deal with the department to resolve its investigation into RBS’ issuance and underwriting of US residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007. It follows a separate fine of US$5.5 billion agreed in July last year with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency over the same matter.
TAXES
Seattle enjoys sugar rush
Seattle officials say the city’s sugary beverages tax generated more than US$4 million in revenue in its first three months. Finance and Administrative Services department spokeswoman Julie Moore says the office had received more than US$4 million in first-quarter tax payments as of Friday last week. The Seattle Times reports the department expects the amount will increase because some checks were still in the mail and some businesses file their taxes annually. Seattle began taxing sugary beverages, syrups and concentrates at the beginning of this year.
PUBLISHING
Lonely Plant CEO leaves
Wunderkind Lonely Planet CEO Daniel Houghton has departed, the company confirmed on Wednesday, amid reports that the travel brand and guidebook publisher is up for sale. Houghton “has stepped away from Lonely Planet to take on a CEO role at another company,” Lonely Planet spokeswoman Natalie Nicolson confirmed by e-mail, adding that “the rest of the leadership team remains in place and will be continuing with business as usual.”
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
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