Chip tester and packager Greatek Electronics Inc’s (超豐電子) shares tumbled more than 3 percent yesterday, as it said it expected output to drop by about 10 percent this month because it has shut some production lines to test all employees for COVID-19 after reporting eight confirmed cases.
A Philippine worker contracted COVID-19 on Tuesday last week, and eight other migrant workers — the first worker’s roommates — were confirmed to have the virus the next day, the firm said in a statement.
Greatek was one of five electronics companies in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) that reported COVID-19 infections among migrant workers.
Photo: Tsai Cheng-min, Taipei Times
To prevent the virus from spreading, Greatek decided to test all of its 4,264 employees, including Taiwanese employees, and test 208 high-risk workers using polymerase chain reaction tests, it said.
It took three days through Monday to complete the tests, resulting in the partial shutdown of production lines, the company said, adding that four more employees tested positive for COVID-19.
“The company has suspended production partially due to the rapid screening tests. The workforce has been reduced as some employees were isolated,” the statement said. “That will cut output by about 10 percent in June.”
The company aims to boost production and enhance operational efficiency to recover the output loss later this year after the COVID-19 outbreak is brought under control, it said.
Shares of Greatek dropped 3.13 percent to NT$71.2 yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX’s loss of 0.64 percent.
To prevent further infections among migrant workers from crippling production of local technology firms and to protect people living in the surrounding areas, the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched rapid screening test centers at the nation’s three major science parks.
Two new rapid screening test centers were yesterday launched at the Southern Taiwan Science Park’s (南部科學園區) two campuses in Tainan and Kaohsiung.
The rapid screening test centers can so far test a combined 1,000 people a day, the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration said in a statement yesterday.
Firms at the Southern Taiwan Science Park employ 7,865 blue-collar migrant workers and 160 foreign employees in managerial positions, the administration said.
Rapid screening test centers were launched at the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) and the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) on Sunday and Tuesday respectively.
Networking equipment maker Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技) is to test more than 1,740 employees from Jhunan Township, the company said in a statement.
As of Tuesday, 13 of its employees had tested positive for COVID-19, Accton said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained