Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) yesterday said it has invested US$20 million in series E round of funding for Vietnam’s biggest e-commerce company, Tiki Corp, as it seeks to gain a foothold in rapidly growing greater Southeast Asian (GSEA) markets.
The strategic investment is Taiwan Mobile’s first in Vietnam and would help the company and its e-commerce subsidiary, Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體), explore potential partners and new growth opportunities beyond its home market, the nation’s second-biggest telecom operator said.
“The strategic cooperation with Tiki is the company’s first investment in Vietnam. It also marks the company’s first strategic and meaningful step to make inroads into the country and GSEA markets,” Taiwan Mobile president Jamie Lin (林之晨) said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan Mobile considers GSEA markets as one of its 5G development targets and would continue to seek new strategic partnerships in the area, including e-commerce, logistics, broadband and 5G-related applications, with the goal of becoming a major telecom and technology services provider in the region, the statement said.
Ho Chi Minh City-based Tiki started out as an online bookstore and has since developed into an e-commerce operator selling a wide range of goods, it said.
The transaction would help Momo.com tap into the rapidly growing e-commerce market in Vietnam and allow it to leverage Tiki’s local strength in terms of market position, warehouses and logistic systems. The companies expect to create synergies in expanding sales and logistics, the statement said.
From last year to 2025, the e-commerce market in Vietnam is expected to post an annual compound growth rate of 34 percent to reach US$29 billion, Taiwan Mobile said, citing a joint report by Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and Bain & Co.
Momo.com, which contributed more than 50 percent to Taiwan Mobile’s revenue, has been cautious about its overseas expansion. It operates a TV sales unit in Thailand.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS