Fri, Dec 21, 2018 page11

• Taiwan Business Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  RETAIL

  Uni-President eyes Woongjin

  Uni-President Enterprise Corp (統一企業), which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, yesterday said it has signed an agreement to acquire a 74.75 percent stake in Woongjin Foods Co for US$229 million. The acquisition is part of the company’s overseas strategic expansion. Woongjin Foods, established in 1976, is a beverage brand in South Korea that has also expanded into the healthy food industry. The deal is subject to approval from competition watchdogs in Taiwan and South Korea.

  SOLAR

  Gigastorage to sell assets

  Money-losing solar wafer maker Gigastorage Corp (國碩) yesterday said its board of directors has approved a proposal to sell land, factory facilities and equipment in Hsinchu County to Center Laboratories Inc (晟德大藥廠) for NT$571 million (US$18.51 million) to rejuvenate its idle assets. The deal is expected to bring in income of NT$250 million to NT$259 million, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. Gigastorage saw its revenue tumble 23.38 percent year-on-year to NT$8.69 billion in the first 11 months of this year due to an oversupply-driven slump. It lost NT$548.4 million in the third quarter, widening from losses of NT$129 million in the same period last year.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  SEMI reports fewer billings

  North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$1.94 billion in worldwide billings last month, according to last month’s Equipment Market Data Subscription report published by SEMI yesterday. The billings figure was 4.2 percent less than the October level of US$2.03 billion, and was 5.3 percent less than the US$2.05 billion reported in November last year. “For the first time in over two years, billings of North American equipment manufacturers are down relative to the same month the year before,” SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha said. “After reaching historical revenues earlier this year, billings activity is decelerating in line with weaker growth expectations for 2019.” The report uses three-month moving averages of worldwide billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  Chang upbeat about IC need

  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) is optimistic about the IC industry in the long run as new technologies emerge. In an interview with the Chinese-language Economic Daily News on Wednesday, Chang said that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G cannot be isolated from the computing for which ICs serve as a base. Due to the continued need for computing, Chang remained upbeat about the semiconductor industry, saying that no matter what new devices are made, IC demand is to remain solid in the long term. As long as TSMC continues to do its best in research and development, and rolls out competitive products, there is no need to worry that the chipmaker will lose business, Chang said. As for AI, Chang said that the new technology is expected to change the way people live in an even more powerful manner than the Internet, which debuted 25 years ago. He predicted that many jobs would be taken over by AI, leaving many people jobless and widening the wealth gap, and urged governments and educational institutions to work together to tackle the problem.
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