Online game publisher Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) said yesterday it would maintain its management independence and fight an attempted acquisition by a stronger South Korean rival.
The company made the statement in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange after local media reported that Nexon Co had been buying up stock in the Taiwanese firm, increasing its shareholding to 33 percent of the company in less than one-and-a-half years, from nearly 20 percent.
“The company welcomes any form of investment and cooperation, but insists on maintaining independent control of the company’s management,” Gamania said in the filing.
Nexon, the largest online game company in South Korea, is currently one of Gamania’s partners, but its aggressive approach has sparked media speculation that Gamania could be bought out by the foreign online game giant.
A company media liaison, who declined to be named, said Gamania had filed a report with the Fair Trade Commission regarding Nexon’s alleged acquisition of more than 30 percent of Gamania.
“In light of current online gaming trends, it would be absolutely detrimental to the development of Taiwan’s online gaming industry if a large-scale foreign corporation was allowed to take control of the local industry’s operating channels and resources, whether the integration is horizontal or vertical,” Gamania said in a news release.
“The company will actively push for internationalization, insist on Taiwan branding, step up its research and development efforts and complete global positioning in the future,” it added.
Asked to comment on the issue, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) yesterday said on the sidelines of the legislature’s Economics Committee meeting that enterprises have their own calculations regarding acquisitions and cooperation.
However, he added that the online gaming industry is an important industry and so the government would seek to gain a better understanding of the understanding of the two sides’ intentions so as to be able to respond appropriately and assist Gamania, if necessary.
Gamania, whose shares rose 3.56 percent to end at NT$32 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, was the first Taiwanese online game brand to expand overseas. The company has offices in Japan, South Korea and China, according to its Web site.
Founded in Seoul in 1994, Nexon reported sales of 1 trillion won (US$900 million) last year, making it the first South Korean gaming company to hit that financial milestone.
additional reporting by CNA
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
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
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
RSS