Toshiba’s board of directors has approved a JPY2 trillion (US$15.3 billion) offer from a consortium led by Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) to buy the company, according to local media reports in Japan.
In a discussion with the famed AI scientist Fei-Fei Li at a forum on March 23, Pegratron chairman T.H. Tung remarked that the current stage of AI development is still not mature enough to replace humans, though AI will strengthen human judgment. Notably, Tung observed that in the new wave of AI arms race, the IC design industry has started to develop “small AI” chips.
While AI-generated content has driven NVIDIA’s price up more than 100% for the past six months, China-based GPU providers are not benefiting from the hype, with investment dropping both in fundraising rounds and amount.
The latest survey report showed that in 2022, China’s cloud market only grew by 10%, reaching US$30.3 billion. The fourth quarter of 2022 was especially rough, reporting only 4% growth and performing way under market expectations. This highlighted that as the economic situation deteriorates, corporations are less willing to shift IT resources to the cloud and instead focus more on operational cost-effectiveness.
Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) has become the standard feature of an intelligent car in recent years. China-based AI chip maker Horizon Robotics launched the Journey 5 chip, boasting high computing power and performance. It has formed partnerships with OEMs to speed up the adoption of automotive AI chips locally.
Samsung Electronics’ smartphone business has hit the rocks. In 2022, Apple captured eight spots in the list of top 10 best-selling smartphones, while Samsung managed to occupy only 2 spots with 2 entry-level models. Its premium, models such as the Galaxy S series, were nowhere to be seen. Samsung is urgently looking for a strategy to boost profits through high-end phones.
So far in 2023, cleanroom contractor L&K Engineering has secured orders totaling NT$18.62 billion (US$613.7 million) from United Microelectronics (UMC) for the pure-play foundry’s new fab in Singapore.
Leading Indian battery manufacturer Amara Raja Batteries has said they intend to establish a new manufacturing plant operating at a giga-scale capacity, with a primary focus on producing Li-ion cells and battery packs that are optimized for the unique conditions found in India. The move is part of the company’s efforts to transition from being just a lead-acid battery maker to an energy and mobility player.