Shin Kong injects funds
The board of Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) yesterday approved injecting NT$18 billion (US$556.5 million) into subsidiary Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) by taking up the life insurer’s common shares, the company said in a press statement.
The financial services provider said that the capital injection will be funded by the proceeds of NT$13.1 billion (US$406 million) from its issuance of global depository receipts in July and another NT$5.3 billion to be raised via the issuance of common shares to be completed on Dec. 10.
Meanwhile, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday said in a press statement that its Shanghai-based non-life insurance subsidiary has received a regulatory approval in Fujian Province to become the first Taiwanese non-life insurer to set up presence there.
Cathay seeks Shanghai branch
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) will seek to upgrade its representative office in Shanghai to a branch and is hoping the new branch will undertake business in Chinese yuan, company president Chen Tsu-pei (陳祖培) said on Thursday.
Chen said that upgrading its liaison office in Shanghai will be the Cathay group’s priority and that it will involve an investment of 200 million yuan (US$29.2 million).
The company expects to begin earning profits when the business turnover of the new branch reaches US$160 million, Chen said.
Delta unveils hybrid
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子) yesterday unveiled its newly developed gasoline-electric hybrid propulsion system, making it the first Taiwanese company to enter the sector.
The company said the system is undergoing road tests, and preliminary results show that the system’s fuel consumption is only 33 percent to 50 percent of conventional gasoline engines.
The system is expected to enter mass production within 18 months, which will increase the company’s annual revenue by NT$10 billion within three years, Delta said.
Simon Chang (張群海), general manager of Delta’s Industrial Automation Business Unit, said with extensive design and manufacturing experience in automobile electronics components, Delta enjoys an advantage over other players in the industry when it comes to the automobile electronics market.
Chang said his company is planning to cooperate with a Chinese automobile company in manufacturing the propulsion system, in light of the vast hybrid vehicle market in China as environmental awareness continues to increase.
CSBC in power talks
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船), the nation’s leading shipbuilder, said it was in talks with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holdings Co (廣東核電集團) on possible power plant assembly orders, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday, citing CSBC chairman Cheng Wen-long (鄭文隆). The newspaper said the Kaohsiung-based shipbuilder hoped to use its experience as the containment vessel contractor for Taiwan Power Co’s (台電) third and fourth nuclear reactors to tap the nuclear power business in China, after it saw container ship orders hit by delays and cancellations amid the global economic crisis.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.101 to close at NT$32.345.
A total of US$1.33 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
RSS