Rice fields in Tianliaoyang Village in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District are pictured in a handout image released yesterday by the New Taipei City Agriculture Bureau. The village is famous for its eco-friendly rice cultivation and produces the regional specialty brand “Yufeng rice,” which enters its harvest season this month.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Agriculture Bureau
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) is to formally merge with Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) on Sept. 1, creating Taiwan’s fifth-largest listed financial holding company by assets and paving the way for capital injections totaling NT$22 billion (US$683.91 million) to shore up the insurer’s finances, top executives said yesterday. “The first priority after the merger will be to bring the insurer back to health through capital injections,” E.Sun Financial chairman Joseph Huang (黃男州) told a news conference in Taipei ahead of a company earnings call. E.Sun would inject NT$16 billion into Mercuries Life next month, followed by another NT$6 billion next year,
WELL MATCHED: The joint venture would lower Sony’s spending burden to stay relevant in chips, while TSMC secures steady revenue, said an analyst, calling it ‘virtually risk-free’ Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Sony Group Corp are in talks to spend a combined ¥1 trillion (US$6.3 billion) on their planned image sensor factory in Japan, a person familiar with the matter said. The companies are seeking to begin production in 2029, the person said, asking not to be named because the talks are private. No time frame was given for the investment under discussion, they said. TSMC and the Japanese company’s chip arm, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp, are eyeing demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-wielding robots and self-driving vehicles, which are expected to require more sensors to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its board of directors has approved investment of ¥282 billion (US$1.77 billion) to form a joint venture with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp to develop and manufacture next-generation image sensors for smartphones in Japan. The joint venture, Advanced Vision Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, would be sited in Koshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, TSMC said in a statement. It should commence volume production in 2029, TSMC said. Sony Semiconductor would invest ¥465 billion in the joint venture through a combination of cash and assets, the statement said. These capital contributions are expected to be made in phases based
China’s humanoid robot makers commanded more than 97 percent of global shipments in the first half of this year, according to new industry data affirming the country’s early lead against US rivals in the burgeoning field. Global humanoid robot shipments totaled about 19,100 units in the first half of this year, more than triple the 5,100 units shipped in the same period last year, data from Smart Analytics Global showed. The California-based research firm said it expects shipments to rise to around 60,000 units this year and reach 500,000 by 2030. Agibot Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co (智元創新) overtook Hangzhou-based Unitree