RENEWABLE ENERGY
Motech to lay off workers
Solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said it plans to lay off 916 employees as part of its efforts to stay afloat. A cutback in solar-power subsidies in China has exacerbated already weak demand for solar energy products, it said. The job cuts are to take place on Jan. 28, the Tainan-based company said in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. As part of its turnaround efforts, it would only produce high-efficiency solar cells and solar modules, as well as expanding into solar panel assembly, the company said.
TECHNOLOGY
E Ink links with start-up
E-paper display supplier E Ink Holdings Co (元太科技) yesterday said it has formed a strategic partnership with a Chinese LCD panel start-up to develop and sell large e-paper displays for industrial devices, the Internet of Things and other premium electronics. The newly established LCD panel maker, based in Zhejiang Province’s Ningbo, has received start-up money from Guangzhou New Vision Optoelectronic Co (廣州新視界光電) and other investors, E Ink said. The Chinese panel maker would make large-sized LCD panels at a new G7.5 plant for E Ink, the company said. E Ink said it would also broaden the partnership into e-paper film manufacturing and e-paper module assembling.
INTERNET
Line developer forum planned
Japanese mobile messaging giant Line Corp is set to hold Line Taiwan TechPulse — its annual software developer conference — in Taiwan on Dec. 21, featuring an Internet of Things (IoT) interactive zone, an executive at Line Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線) said on Tuesday. This year’s theme is “interaction,” and developers would use the interactive zone to learn how to create more people-to-people interactions and conduct information and service exchanges through the messaging platform, Line Taiwan research and development director Marco Chen (陳鴻嘉) said. A wide range of apps would be available at the event, including Line Chatbot, through which participants can register and report their arrival at events, Chen said. In the IoT interactive area, attendees would be able to carry out interactive tasks and play games using apps to control devices at the site.
TRADE
Taiwan, Japan meet on trade
Taiwan and Japan are set to sign five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) after their annual two-day economic and trade meeting, which begins today in Taipei, with the objective of enhancing cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The closed-door meeting is to take place at the Ambassador Hotel. Taiwan-Japan Relations Association President Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi are to lead the delegations in discussions on a wide range of economic and trade issues, the ministry said. Taiwan is expected to express its interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, being led by Japan. The Japanese are likely to voice hopes that Taiwan would lift a ban on food imports from five prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster, despite the passage of a referendum on Saturday last week to maintain the ban.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
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Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
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