VIRTUAL REALITY
StarVR cancels share sale
Acer Inc’s (宏碁) virtual reality (VR) venture has dropped a plan to raise NT$540 million (US$17.65 million) through the issuance of 6 million new shares, a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing released on Friday showed. StarVR Corp (宏星技術) does not think it needs to raise funds after considering its operational and financial conditions, as well as the current capital market, Acer said. StarVR is to focus in the short term on the high-end commercial market of the VR gear segment, after deploying some of its gear in gaming zones at theme parks and shopping malls, said Acer, which holds a 63.25 percent stake in the company.
MANUFACTURING
Business mood weakens
The manufacturing sector showed weakening business sentiment last month at a time of lingering trade friction between the US and China, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) said on Friday. The downbeat mood also reflected slower sales of smartphones and chips used for cryptocurrency mining, the institute said. The composite index for the sector fell 0.95 points from a month earlier to 100.52, it said.
INTERNET
Oath to set up R&D in Taiwan
Oath Inc, which owns digital content subdivisions AOL and Yahoo, on Friday announced that it would set up a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan. The center would set trends for new products, optimize the user experience locally, and connect local and global markets, Oath media engineering department vice president Kelly Hirano said. The firm is expected to recruit about 100 artificial intelligence engineers, programmers, product designers and product managers this quarter.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
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