ACQUISITIONS
Ability buying AndroVideo
Digital camera maker Ability Enterprise Co (佳能) on Friday announced that it is buying AndroVideo Inc (奇卓) for NT$140 million (US$4.53 million) as it expands into the development of edge computing and intelligent image solutions, including facial recognition. AndroVideo, a subsidiary of digital surveillance equipment supplier GioVision Inc (奇偶), manufactures intelligent video surveillance systems and artificial intelligence cameras.
RETAIL
Stock tumble limits buying
Sales posted by department stores in Taiwan rose only 0.1 percent last month from a year earlier to NT$39.6 billion, while revenue posted by hypermarket chains plunged 10.3 percent year-on-year to NT$14.9 billion, as a tumble in the local equity market undermined consumer sentiment and kept them from spending more, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday. Convenience store chains sales rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$27.2 billion, but revenue generated by supermarket operators dropped 0.4 percent to NT$18.7 billion, the ministry said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
OBI drug wins designation
OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) has received “orphan drug” designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new drug for pancreatic cancer, OBI-888. The drug is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody cancer immunotherapy targeting Globo H, a glycolipid antigen, the company said on Wednesday. A phase 1 study of OBI-888 has begun enrolling patients at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The study, including a dose escalation phase and cohort expansion phase, is expected to be completed next year, OBI said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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