Here’s a brief roundup of the top business stories in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China for Nov. 25, 2014.

Taiwan’s industrial output rises: MOEA

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Nov. 23 that the nation’s industrial production index rose to 112.56 in October, while Taiwanese electronics products have been demanded by global smartphone manufacturers.

Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯), deputy director-general for Department of Statistics, said that the annual output expanded by 8.97 % in October, moderating from a 10.3 percent expansion in September. He said that growth in production is expected to be sustainable this quarter, compared with the same period last year, supported by increasing demand for wearable devices and the Internet of Things (IOT).

The director-general said that the manufacturing sub-index increased 9 percent year-on-year and 2.76% month-on-month during October, due to strong performances by the semiconductor, LED and optic modulator industries.

Yang said that industrial production rose 5.94% during the first 10 months of the year, to compare with the same figure for last year, while the manufacturing sub-sector increased 6.28% annually over the same period.

Shanghai stocks’ pre-rate-cut rally draws suspicions of insider trading

China Economic Review reported on Nov. 25 that an unusual rally among Shanghai-listed stocks just before the country’s central bank last Friday has prompted suspicions of insider trading among some investors.

Shanghai’s benchmark index started virtually flat on Friday (Nov. 21) but it began to climb 1.4% in the afternoon to just shy of its three-year high despite a lack of substantial market-moving news, while trading volume jumped 31% from the previous day.

Stocks in brokerages and property developers, which would be among the winners from eased monetary policy, were among the biggest movers Friday.

Tibetan hydropower project starts operating upstream on Brahmaputra

China Economic Review reported on Nov. 25 that the Zangmu Hydropower Station’s first generating plant began operations in Tibet on Sunday (Nov. 23).

Xinhua, China’s state-owned news agency, reported that the station’s dam, located on the Yarlung Zanbo River, or the Brahmaputra in India, is still under construction and will be 116 meters high with a generating capacity of 510,000 kilowatts when completed.

In response, India showed its concerns about damming the Brahmaputra, one of the largest Himalayan rivers and a lifeline to some of India’s remote, farm-dependent northeastern states.

Bank of China predicts more dim sum bonds to be issued in Australia next year

Bank of China said on Nov. 24 that Australian corporate borrowers will start issuing dim sum bonds by the middle of next year after the first offering from a state government.

Hu Shanjun (胡善君), Australia country head for Bank of China, said that last week’s sale by New South Wales, the country’s biggest regional economy, of 1 billion yuan (US$133 million) of securities opened the door for non-financial companies that do business with the mainland.

Bank of China managed the transaction with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Hu said that Bank of China had spoken to potential issuers and the market might develop “very quickly,” possibly reaching “hundreds of billions” of yuan over the next few years.

The post Cross-Strait News Daily Round-Up for Nov. 25 appeared first on VR World.

Well, it appears that Nokia isn’t interested in letting the brand die after the company sold its mobile division to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) for a sum of $7.2 billion, which many called undervalued. What was left of Nokia is now known as NSN and now that Microsoft is killing the Nokia name brand for phones and simply calling them Microsoft Lumia phones, Nokia still has the rights and ownership of the Nokia brand name. As such, they’ve decided to do something with it and have been hinting for some time that they might make a device.

The 7.9″ Nokia N1 harkens back to the days of when Nokia had phones like the Nokia N8 and Nokia N9 before their genius management decided to go to Windows Phone and then sell the whole division to Microsoft. Anyways, the N1 may be a sign of the brand’s rebirth but not a complete rebirth, because the reality is that this device is a bizarre lovechild as a result of Foxconn (TPE:2354) and Nokia’s relationship. According to The Verge, this device’s design, user interface and brand name are licensed to Foxconn who then manufactures the device and probably takes in all the profits as well. So, it isn’t quite clear if this is really a Nokia device or a Foxconn device or some weird amalgamation of the two. Either way, the end result is an Apple iPad looking device that features an Intel Moorefield Z3580 SoC and USB Type-C connector which should allow for some awesome functionality thanks to DisplayPort and MHL Alt Mode which could theoretically be available on this device.

Additionally, the Nokia N1 has the Z Launcher from Nokia which is Nokia’s own take on the Android OS launcher and will ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop in addition to having USB Type-C reversible USB connector capability.

Nokia N1 Z Launcher

The Nokia N1 itself sports a 2048×1536 resolution on the 7.9″ display, which makes it quite competitive with other tablets and has an 8 megapixel main camera as well as a 5 megapixel front-facing camera. The main camera is only capable of 1080P video, meaning that the resolution of the tablet’s display is greater than the camera’s capability. Perhaps higher-end versions of Nokia’s tablets will have higher resolution displays (on larger models) and with better cameras, even though I personally don’t care much for tablet photography or videography.

Nokia N1 Battery

The tablet also has 2GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage standard, which makes it a great value at $249, which is the expected sale price when the Nokia N1 goes for sale next year around the Chinese New Year time frame. One thing that some people also may have missed is that Nokia and Foxconn actually opted for a higher quality audio processor with the Wolfson DAC, specifically the Wolfson WM8958E, independent audio codec. It does, however, have a fairly small 18.5 Wh (5300 mAh) rechargeable LiPo battery (3.7 V) which means that you probably can’t expect much battery life out of this thing compared to an iPad, unless Intel, Nokia and Foxconn have managed to do some power management wizardry. Not to mention, this is the highest clocked processor from Intel’s 22nm family of mobile SoCs, so nobody really expects fantastic battery life.

It will also, amazingly enough, have dual band MIMO 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi connectivity, which would make it one of the better connected tablets out there, even though AC should really be the standard on all mobile devices nowadays. Oh yeah, and in true Nokia spirit, the whole body is made of anodized aluminum (yes, like the iPad). Honestly, the similarities between this tablet and the iPad are striking, but there’s also no doubt that a lot of people would happily buy an iPad clone that runs Android. Especially if it really does end up selling for $249.

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On November 1, Nokia’s Chennai manufacturing facility, was finally shut down following the termination of the mobile purchasing agreement from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) . With no vendor to cater to and the Indian government freezing Nokia’s assets following legal issues, Nokia decided to shutdown the plant and lay off the 8,000 full-time staff at the facility.

In its heyday, the plant accounted for over 60% of Nokia’s global handset production, with the vendor exporting devices produced at the location to Middle East and Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. While the facility itself was originally meant to be included in the $7.2 billion sale to Microsoft, the legal issues from the Indian government prevented the transfer of the plant once the deal was finalized earlier this year. Nokia then entered into an agreement to manufacture phones for Microsoft from the facility, but that agreement come to an end on October 31 and was not renewed.

Legal issues

The setbacks began when the Indian government discovered that Nokia was selling handsets produced at the Chennai facility in the domestic market. The factory was categorized solely for exports, which entitled a host of benefits from the state government including a free 99-year lease, power, tax, and electricity cost reimbursements as well as other write-offs. The Tamil Nadu government facilitated these measures to grow local manufacturing and drive jobs in this segment, and it succeeded as the facility at full output had a workforce of 12,000 full-time workers and 25,000 contractors.

Handsets that were being exported to other countries were exempt from Indian tax laws, but if a device were to go on sale in India, it would incur additional taxes in line with the local tax rules. It was found that Nokia’s Indian subsidiary was not conforming to the local tax laws when selling handsets in the country, which led to a fine of $352 million from the Delhi High Court for the six-year period from 2006 to 2013. An asset freeze followed, but was soon revoked to allow the sale of the facility to Microsoft. That fell through as it meant that Microsoft had to pay the government Nokia’s back taxes. The tax issue is still being debated by Nokia, which claims that it is far lesser than $350 million. Over-complicated tax laws are said to be another factor in deciding the actual amount that is owed by the Finnish giant.

Nokia is looking to renew its factory license so that it can sell the 200-acre facility as a fully functional electronics factory to future buyers. The manufacturer has until the end of the month to renew its license, and failing to do so would reduce the facility to nothing more than a warehouse.

A setback for India

Whatever the verdict comes out to, it is clear that the closure of the Chennai plant is a major setback to the manufacturing segment in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively promoting a “Made in India” campaign to bring hardware manufacturing to the country, but primitive custom laws and lack of skilled workers are major hurdles for prospective vendors looking to set up shop here.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) was in discussions with the Indian government to set up a fab in India, but the move fell through. The Indian government is keen on foreign investments and is ready to provide lucrative deals, but the lack of infrastructure seems to be the biggest drawback. Local manufacturers like Micromax and Karbonn are beginning to understand the value of local manufacturing, but Xiaomi looks likely to create a facility in the country before the local vendors. According to a statement from last month, Xiaomi is currently estimating the viability of a manufacturing facility in India.

It may be a while before we see any real progress in this segment, but the longer-time prospects do seem encouraging considering the rising labor costs in China. With manufacturers like Foxconn (TPE:2354) now looking to countries like Indonesia and beyond for production, India is a likely candidate. The country has manual labor in abundance, and the government is keen on offering lucrative deals for foreign entities. However, to avoid setbacks like the one brought about by Nokia, the government needs to be clear in establishing clear-cut laws and communicating these laws to vendors setting up a base here.

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What do you get when you combine a touch interface computer with a scanner, 3D scanner, camera, DLP projector, and a 20-point touch enabled work area?  Well, it is something that Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is calling the Sprout and is hoping that it will change the way you work and get projects done.

Sprout is HP’s newest initiative to reinvent the way people work with computers to create art, presentation, and media.  The biggest thing you will see as a change to interfacing with the computer is that it wants you to interact with it using your hands, not a keyboard and mouse.  There are many features that are noteworthy in this machine and the most prominent is the DLP projector that projects on a 20-point touch sensitive anti-slip work mat.  This is how HP wants the user to interact with the PC as it displays the images on the work area and you are able to manipulate it with your hands.  This is where we are with getting as close to the sci-fi movie type computer interfacing.

As it is prominently visible the “HP Illuminator” is the piece that overhangs the LCD screen.  Ths incorporates a DLP projector, a 4 camera system that takes 3D scans of objects with a 14.6MP camera for 2D pictures, and a LED light to illuminate items.  While the unit comes with a wireless keyboard the HP videos prominently show people using a projected keyboard to input characters while creating.  With 3D printing being integrated into the Windows OS, it is nice to see 3D scanners starting to make a presence with todays computers.

As cliche as it sounds this is indeed a game changer that HP has brought out, and it will be interesting to see how creators receive the Sprout.  If it does work well this will certainly start a shift in how people create media and it will be reflected in future designs.  It is possible that the Sprout will do well on the novelty of the design by itself, even if it only performs so-so. I for one can’t wait to get my hands on one and play with it for a few hours, it certainly looks like a lot of fun. Read further below to get the official specs.

Specifications:

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Tactus, the maker of the tactile touch technology (with many applications) has signed a strategic manufacturing partnership with one of the world’s largest ODMs, Wistron, which includes a strategic investment from Wistron to help Tactus grow. For those of you unfamiliar with Tactus, they are the company that originally started out a few years ago promising to bring physical keyboards to touch screens. Now, they are promising to bring physical buttons to more than just touch screens, but with far more usefulness and simplicity. We actually have a video of Tactus’ latest technology from this year’s CES to demonstrate how the technology works.

This announcement involving Wistron illustrates not only the feasaibility of Tactus’ technology, but also a confidence in the fact that it will be applicable in future technologies for years to come. To get an idea of how big Wistron really is, you have to understand that they are one of the top 5 biggest ODMs and contract manufacturers in the world and are listed as a Fortune 500 company with around $23 billion in revenue annually.  This comes as a follow up to Tactus’ Series B funding that they announced at CES this year and actually had included Wistron at that time, but they weren’t officially announced as an investor until today. While the exact amount of the Series B funding was not announced, the expected amount was over $10 million.

By having Wistron as an investor and a partner, Tactus gains a valuable channel to promote their technology. Having Wistron onboard means that certain companies that may have not yet heard of Tactus’ groundbreaking technology can see it for themselves without Tactus ever needing to approach them. Additionally, it may afford Wistron the ability to be one of the first companies in the world to manufacture devices with Tactus’ technology as we are still awaiting a commercial/consumer version of Tactus’ technology in either a consumer product or an accessory as we led on at CES.

While there were no further indications of what we can expect for the year to come, I have a feeling that this announcement is merely a formality and probably a lead up to some larger product announcements that we’d expect to hopefully come before the end of the year.

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The results of that investment are slowly coming to life, and as of today, TSMC has more advanced manufacturing process than any other competitor in the manufacturing business. Intel will argue its (very important, though) Hafnium or High-K material, but ever since I became a journalist, Intel touted its manufacturing capabilities and ability to go small “sooner than anyone else”. Well, that is about to change.
For instance, Intel will introduce 32nm process in late 2009, and mass production in 2010. Due to separation between AMD and “MAD AMD” (The Foundry Company) will introduce 32nm (bulkPG, not for CPUs) only at the end of 2009, with 2010 being the year of mass production. If all things go well, that is.
During that same time, TSMC will introduce 32nm (Q4’2009), 28nm (Q2’2010) and 22nm will debut in first half of 2011. This is very, very aggressive roadmap that will give Nvidia and ATI leverage in development of graphics parts.

This also does not sound good for Intel’s own Larrabee, which will rely on Intel’s own manufacturing capabilities. While this was viewed as a huge strength in the previous years, TSMC may actually give AMD and Nvidia more than a fighting chance – a winning cost/die ratio.

As a case of demonstration, my source gave me a comparison while using Nvidia’s GT200 chip. This estimated comparison gave me shivers, because in 28nm (available in a bit more than a year), die size for 1.4 billion transistors would drop to incredible 160mm2. Of course, don’t expect that ATI or Nvidia will stand still. They will keep making big GPUs and put more and more core logic inside.

GT200 die through different TSMC manufacturing processes (“wild” estimate):
65nm: 576 mm2 (GT200)
55nm: 470 mm2 (GT206)
40nm: 320 mm2 (GT212)
32nm: 220 mm2 (die-shrink estimate)
28nm: 150 mm2 (die-shrink estimate)

Given this table, we can see that if Nvidia would want to keep the 500mm2 die size, it could manufacture a chip with 500 processors in 40nm, 700 processors in 32nm or massive 1200 shader processors using 28nm process. But don’t expect that either ATI or Nvidia will go linear with their GPUs.
What I personally expect is 512-bit bus, GDDR5 memory controller for both companies (regardless of what ATI is saying now), and increasing the capabilities of shaders. Currently, ATI is supporting FP64 DP format through their 80 shader lines (e.g. in RV780, you have 80 shader pipelines with 10 units in each – you can either output one FP64 Dual Precision or ten FP32 Single Precision number formats). Nvidia features one FP64 DualPrecision unit on eight of their regular shader cores.
With 32nm available in 2009 and 28nm available a year later, it is easy to predict that we will see a tremendous increase in processing power not through the sheer number of shaders, but rather increasing existing shader capabilities.
My $0.02 is that we will see 4-10TFLOPS parts coming in next 24 months, essentially increasing the computational power by anywhere between four and ten times. All thanks to massive effort put in by TSMC.
For now, Nvidia can announce the mass production of Tegra mobile SoC chips and its notebook lineup, while ATI can launch their notebook line-up. 40nm High-Performance arrives in Q1’2009, and you can expect GT212 and RV870 coming “your way in May”.

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There is just one question that keeps on flying around – with products such as Radeon 4800 series, current 7-series and upcoming 8-series chipset, platforms like Puma – why is this company so keen on invalidating engineering and marketing team’s efforts with continuous bickering and mistreatment of people that are the key drivers of progress in the company.

The original netbook... now, how exactly AMD missed to cash out on this one?

AMD is the company that launched netbook initiative with OLPC project, and then failed to lead and leave Intel with $200M extra revenue per quarter. But that’s just one example – second one is probably the automotive division, with Nvidia snapping lion’s share of upcoming high-tech interfaces inside cars – AMD was used in Ferrari’s F1 and road cars, but now Nvidia Tegra and GeForce 9 are the ones selected to power 3D interfaces inside numerous Mercs, Maseratis, Ferraris, Audis and soon, whole car lineup from VAG Group (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley and of course, groups owner Porsche).
When Nvidia snaps up x86 license (from Transmeta?) and Intel comes out with Larrabee, things are looking gloomier for AMD than they are for Nvidia or Intel. Ultimately, there is just one question: why AMD is so desperately want to be the follower, instead of leader?
Personally, I am spending all of my resources to get my company going, and people that are now in the team stride towards nothing else but greatness, to be #1, to make the difference. Time will tell will we succeed or fail, but one thing is sure – we are not building a company looking to follow others. We’re building a company looking at what our target market needs and more importantly, wants. Thus sadly, AMD cannot be our role model – far from it.

P.S. Number of good people that left AMD since the acquisition of ATi: Dave Orton, Henri Richard, Lorenzo Martone, Andrzej Bania, Peter Edinger, Dave Everitt, Suzy Pruitt, Lars Weinand, Andrea Di Giovanni and many, many others.  There are still many bright and creative people that I am talking with, but sadly, the trend is just downwards, not upwards.

The post AMD keeps on killing its saviors, continues malicious benchmark practice appeared first on VR World.

Break point is achieved - it's all downhill for 65nm from now on

While the world is waiting on AMD’s Shanghai and Deneb, Intel’s 45nm Core and Xeon processors overtook 65nm ones and the company decided to phase out or EOL (End Of Life) no less than 31 different 65nm processors.
Intel claims the company has achieved break point between 45nm and 65 and that majority (roughly 60%) of CPUs in Q4 will be manufactured using 45nm process.
Given that processors like Core 2 Duo E8500 overclock to 4-4.2 GHz using tiny stock cooler, there is clear headroom for next-generation of its CPUs, codenamed Nehalem. I had the opportunity to test the Nehalem setup and all that I can say is 45nm process and Intel engineers rock. To have stable 4 GHz+ operations on air was something I could not even dream of at the time of NetBust CPUs.
But the tides have turned, and now Intel’s 45nm processors are the way to go for full performance. You can read more about phased out processors at my ex-post, TG Daily.

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