■ Semiconductors
Intel sets new PC standard
Intel Corp developed new chip technology, code-named Grantsdale, that may make amenities such as surround sound and high-definition video standard features of desktop computers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Grants-dale is a so-called chip set that controls how a micro-processor exchanges data with other components like memory chips and net-working devices, the paper said. The technology will forge faster links between processors and graphics cards, making music and video recording easier, the paper reported. Other features include "matrix storage," which guards against the loss of infor-mation by distributing data between two hard drives, the Journal said. Grantsdale will begin appearing this weekend in new personal computers from major manufacturers, including some priced below US$1000, the paper said.
■ Japan
Tire makers raided
Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog raided more than 10 tire makers yesterday on suspicion that they rigged bids for contracts to supply tires for military tanks and aircraft. Fair Trade Com-mission investigators searched offices at Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp, Yokohama Rubber Co, Osaka-based Toyo Tire and Rubber Co and several other tire makers and rubber suppliers, said a commission official who declined to be identified. The companies are suspected of colluding to raise the price of tires supplied to the Defense Agency, said the official. If found guilty, the companies may be fined as much as 6 percent of the highest bid. Media reports said that the tire makers had agreed to let one of the companies win the bidding -- at an artificially high price -- before the agency's auction took place.
■ Investments
Singapore share assets up
Assets managed by financial institutions based in Singa-pore rose 35 percent to S$465.2 billion Singapore dollars (US$271 billion) last year, the city-state's central bank said yesterday. The gain was the ninth yearly rise in the past decade, and means the sector has grown more than sevenfold since 1994, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said an annual survey. The rise last year came as inter-national investors poured more money into Asia, stock markets climbed, and some fund managers based more of their activities in the city-state, said Ng Nam Sin, executive director of the Financial Center Devel-opment Department. The number of asset manage-ment companies rose to 230 last year from 211 in 2002, the report said. But the number of professionals employed in the sector dropped for the second consecutive year, falling to 986 from 1,012 in 2002 and 1,114 the year before.
■ Publishing
British bidder drops out
The publisher of Britain's Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers said yesterday it had dropped out of the bidding for the Telegraph titles from Hollinger International Inc. Daily Mail & General Trust PLC said it was no longer involved in the auction for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine, Hollin-ger's British titles. The firm did not reveal details of its bid. Lazard, the bank handling the sale on behalf of Hollinger International, is expected to make a final announcement on the auction in the next few days.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
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