ELECTRONICS
Asustek sets ‘ZenTalk’ date
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it is to convene its annual “ZenTalk” conference in Taipei on Aug. 26 to showcase its upcoming flagship handset, the ZenFone 4, and its augmented reality (AR) smartphone, the ZenFone AR, to consumers. It is the third consecutive year the company has hosted the conference in the city, as part of the firm’s strategy to promote its smartphones and create a closer relationship with its consumers. Asustek said a “high-ranking” executive would personally introduce the features of the new products and dine with the participants. Asustek has not yet sent out invitations to the ZenFone 4 product launch after the company reportedly postponed it from the end of this month to the middle of next month.
TECHNOLOGY
Kinsus net income plunges
Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp (景碩科技), a silicon substrate manufacturing arm of Pegatron Corp (和碩), yesterday reported net income of NT$63.39 million (US$2.09 million) for last quarter, down from the NT$603.32 million it made in the same period last year. Earnings per share were NT$0.14, compared with last year’s NT$1.35. The result brought the company’s combined net profit for the first half to NT$199.94 million, down from NT$1.11 billion last year, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company has not yet set a date for its investors’ conference, at which it plans to announce its outlook for the remainder of this year.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai in India talks
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is in talks with a major industrial group in India to introduce low-end mobile phones in the nation, according to an Indian media report. The Economic Times reported over the weekend that Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), has entered into negotiations with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to make low-priced mobile phones under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative. The report said that Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of RIL, is planning to launch dual SIM mobile phones costing between US$23 and US$25. The report said that the mobile phones would be equipped with 2G and 4G SIM card slots and are expected to use chips designed by China’s Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊).
SHIPBUILDERS
CSBC Corp delivers vessel
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday said that TS Lines Co (德翔海運) has taken delivery of a 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit Bangkok-max vessel that it was commissioned to design and build. Despite a downturn in the global cargo shipping sector, TS Lines is committed to updating its fleet and the company has three more of the vessels on order, CSBC Corp said. The new vessel is 25 percent more fuel efficient than vessels built 10 years ago, the shipbuilder said.
ECONOMY
M1B grows 4.43 percent
M1B money supply, which refers to cash and cash equivalents, grew 4.43 percent year-on-year last month, faster than the broader gauge M2 — M1B, savings deposits, time savings deposits and foreign currency deposits — which grew 3.71 percent, the central bank said yesterday. As M1B is often linked to liquidity available for stock investments, the trend might reflect an upturn in investor confidence, as the two measures displayed a so-called “golden cross,” the bank said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
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