BLOCKCHAIN
HTC making enabled phone
HTC Corp (宏達電) has announced plans to launch its first blockchain-enabled phone, Exodus. “Our vision is to expand the blockchain ecosystem by creating the world’s first phone dedicated to decentralized applications and security,” HTC said on its Web site. Exodus would support a number of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, and come with its own universal wallet and advanced security features, DigiTimes reported yesterday. Other details such as the phone’s specifications, price and launch date remain unknown.
TELECOMS
Line to keep NT$499 plan
Line Mobile Corp yesterday said it would continue to offer its flat-rate plan for NT$499 (US$16.69) a month, even though the nation’s major telecoms stopped offering similar packages on Tuesday. Line Mobile, a subsidiary of social media firm Line Corp, offers a 12-month service contract for unlimited full-speed Internet for a minimum of NT$499 per month, rather than the 30 months offered by the top three telecoms. Line Mobile launched the service in Taiwan on April 24 on Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd’s (遠傳電信) 4G network.
ELECTRONICS
Ta-i profit skyrockets 431%
Chip resistor supplier Ta-i Technology Co (大毅) yesterday reported that net profit last month increased 430.77 percent year-on-year to NT$69 million, as revenue surged 43.51 percent to NT$442 million from the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share increased 406.6 percent annually to NT$0.37, Ta-i said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Ta-i released the results at the request of the exchange regulator due to an unusual spike in its stock price in recent sessions. Its shares yesterday fell 4.89 percent to NT$79.8, but have risen more than 8 percent this week.
FOREX
Yuan deposits down 1.91%
Yuan deposits held by domestic banks, including negotiable certificates of deposit, at the end of last month edged down 1.91 percent to 315.56 billion yuan (US$49.48 billion), the central bank said on Tuesday. Yuan deposits held by banks’ domestic units totaled 285.77 billion yuan, a monthly decrease of 2.01 percent, the bank said, adding that holdings by banks’ offshore units decreased 0.89 percent to 29.79 billion yuan.
INVESTMENT
Index cut to cause outflow
A move by global index provider MSCI Inc to cut Taiwan’s weighting in its major indices is expected to lead to a foreign fund outflow of more than NT$24.2 billion, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Tuesday. However, Securities and Futures Bureau Director-General Chou Hui-mei (周惠美) downplayed the significance of the expected outflow, saying that it would account for only 0.17 percent of the market capitalization owned by foreign institutional investors in Taiwan.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Wafer shipments up 7.9%
Global silicon wafer shipments last quarter increased 7.9 percent from a year earlier in terms of surface area, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) said on Tuesday in a news release. According to SMG’s analysis, total silicon wafer area shipments were 3,084 million square inches, up from the 2,858 million square inches shipped a year earlier. “Global silicon wafer shipment volumes started the year at historic levels,” SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said in the statement.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
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