Rush for AI chips a boon for Vanguard
Rush for AI chips a boon for VanguardAT HIGH CAPACITY: Three-month order visibility on stable customer demand would push factory utilization to between 80 and 85 percent, Vanguard’s president saidBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterFoundry service provider Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) yesterday said it is unable to fully satisfy surging demand for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers and data centers, amid an AI infrastructure investment boom that is crowding out production of less advanced chips. Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp chairman Fang Leuh attends a news conference at the chipmaker’s headquarters in Hsinchu City on June 5, 2024. Vanguard also expects wafer shipments this quarter to grow about 3 percent sequentially, thanks to rising inventory buildup demand for chips used in TVs and e-paper displays. Vanguard reported net quarterly profit growth of 2.6 percent for last quarter to NT$1.75 billion from NT$1.7 billion in the third quarter. Last year as a whole, net profit grew 12.2 percent to NT$7.91 billion from NT$7.05 billion in 2024, with earning per share rising to NT$4.22 from NT$4.16.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Gazans crossing into Egypt to visit hospitals
Gazans crossing into Egypt to visit hospitals‘WINDOW OF HOPE’: The partially reopened Rafah border crossing with Egypt is Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to IsraelAFP, RAFAH, Palestinian TerritoriesSick and wounded Gazans on Monday began crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment after Israel permitted a limited reopening of the Palestinian territory’s Rafah border post. About 150 people were due to leave the territory on Monday, and 50 to enter it, Egyptian officials said, more than 20 months after Israeli forces fighting in Gaza closed the crossing. The border crossing with Egypt is Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel, and is a key access point for both people and goods. Abdul Rahim Mohamed, 30, said he was eagerly awaiting the return to Gaza of his mother, who had left for cancer treatment in Egypt in March 2024. “Two days ago, she was informed she could return to Gaza and told me on the phone: ‘Come and wait for me at the crossing,’” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Liverpool seal Jeremy Jacquet deal
The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Stade Rennais’ Jeremy Jacquet dribbles during their French Ligue 1 match against Le Havre at the Stade Oceane in Le Havre, France, on Oct. 5 last year. Liverpool, by contrast, are short on centerback options, with Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni sidelined by injury. The move has now been abandoned.”Bottom of the table Wolves signed Southampton striker Adam Armstrong for ￡9 million to replace Strand Larsen.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Stars attend event ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl match
Stars attend event ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl matchReuters, SAN JOSE, CaliforniaThe New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Monday launched Super Bowl festivities with an Opening Night that swapped spectacle for a surprisingly more sedate affair — proving even the NFL’s most notorious media circus can have an off night. Members of the New England Patriots cheerleader squad perform during the NFL’s Super Bowl LX Opening Night event in San Jose, California, on Monday. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold wears a ham-shaped hat during the NFL Super Bowl Opening Night in San Jose, California, on Monday. Photo: APThe evening’s peak absurdity arrived when Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold donned a ham-shaped hat courtesy of comedian Guillermo Rodriguez, sparking an impromptu “Ham for Sam” chant. The 28-year-old Darnold would not play along, opting instead to do his best to keep this week as normal as possible ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl clash.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Tennis stars reject Grand Slam tournaments’ offer
Tennis stars reject Grand Slam tournaments’ offerThe GuardianThe tennis pay row has escalated further with the world’s top 10 male and female players rejecting an offer from the Grand Slams to set up a player council that would give them a greater say in the running of the major championships. People watch the Australian Open men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne on Sunday. At Wimbledon last year, the total prize pot of ￡50 million (US$68.4 million) was 12.3 percent of the tournament’s ￡406.5 million revenue. Three of the Grand Slams, minus the Australian Open, wrote to the players in December last year offering a meeting on setting up a Grand Slam player council, but ignored their demands on pay and welfare. In a further indication of the in-fighting, Tennis Australia is not involved in the dispute, as it has aligned with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association, which is suing the other three Grand Slam governing bodies in New York’s district court over alleged restrictive practices.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Wolff blasts rivals over F1 engine loophole claims
Wolff blasts rivals over F1 engine loophole claimsReutersMercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff on Monday blasted rivals for casting doubt on the legality of his team’s new engine through secret meetings and letters. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff looks on ahead of a practice session in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 17 last year. “I just don’t understand that some teams concentrate more on the others and keep arguing a case that is very clear and transparent,” Wolff told reporters ahead of the team’s online season launch. Mercedes started the last engine era in 2014 with a dominant power unit and racked up a record eight constructors’ titles in succession. Wolff said the early evidence from an initial shakedown involving 10 of the 11 teams was that there was less of a gap than feared by some.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Trump unveils US$12 billion critical mineral reserve
Trump unveils US$12 billion critical mineral reserveBloombergUS President Donald Trump on Monday formally announced plans to launch a US$12 billion critical minerals stockpile, in his latest effort to aid manufacturers while minimizing reliance on Chinese rare earths. The so-called Project Vault is meant to “ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortages,” Trump said at the White House. US President Donald Trump announces the creation of a critical minerals reserve during an event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday. “Just as we have long had a strategic petroleum reserve and a stockpile of critical minerals for national defense, we’re now creating this reserve for American industry, so we don’t have any problems,” Trump said. Others present at the Oval Office event included General Motors Co CEO Mary Barra and mining billionaire Robert Friedland, representing both producers and users of critical minerals.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
Faced with Trump, Pope Leo opts for indirect diplomacy
Faced with Trump, Pope Leo opts for indirect diplomacyAFP, VATICAN CITYFaced with a highly polarized US political landscape, Leo XIV, the first American pope, has opted for discreet and indirect criticism while also keeping channels of communication open. As an American, he is somewhat the natural opponent of Trumpism,” a Vatican source said on condition of anonymity. “The aim was to avoid a bloodbath and bring the actors back to reason,” a senior Vatican source said. Leo has yet to meet Trump, although he received Vice President JD Vance two weeks after his election in May last year. “The risk is a disintegration, even a collapse, of the reputation and historical role of the American Church,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
White House to slash tariffs on India to 18%
White House to slash tariffs on India to 18%FEW DETAILS: While deals with other Asian nations have included specific commitments to invest in US industries, the India announcement does notReuters, WASHINGTON and NEW DELHIUS President Donald Trump on Monday announced a trade deal with India that slashes US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from 50 percent in exchange for India halting Russian oil purchases and lowering trade barriers. A White House official said that the US was rescinding a punitive 25 percent duty on all imports from India over its purchases of Russian oil that had stacked on top of a 25 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate. “They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO,” Trump said of India. As of late Monday afternoon, the White House had not issued a presidential proclamation nor a Federal Register notice required to make the changes official. The US Chamber of Commerce, which has long advocated a market-opening trade deal with India, called Trump’s announcement progress toward that goal.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
DHS officers to get a camera: Noem
Noem said the body-worn camera program is being expanded nationwide as funding becomes available. “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem said in a social media post. The DHS has said that at least four Customs and Border Protection officers on the scene when Pretti was shot were wearing body cameras. Critics have increasingly called for the DHS to require its immigration enforcement officers to wear body cameras. Democrats have been demanding changes to rein in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC
KMT, CCP back ‘1992 consensus’ at Beijing forum
KMT, CCP back ‘1992 consensus’ at Beijing forumBy Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNAChina’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) both spoke about upholding the so-called “1992 consensus,” opposing Taiwanese independence and “rejuvenating the Chinese nation” as pillars of cross-strait relations at a KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CPP) think tank exchange forum in Beijing today. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait hope for cross-strait relations to stabilize and improve, Song said in his opening remarks. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen speaks at a KMT-Chinese Communist Party think tank exchange forum in Beijing today. The KMT and CCP are responsible for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and protecting the “Chinese homeland,” Song said. The past 30 years have shown that cross-strait exchanges and cooperation best serve the common interests of people on both sides, Hsiao said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 13:50 UTC
MOFA warns against misusing visa-free travel for illegal activities
MOFA warns against misusing visa-free travel for illegal activitiesStaff writer, with CNAThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today urged Taiwanese not to misuse visa-free entry privileges to engage in illegal activities while traveling overseas. Six Taiwanese have been arrested by South Korean police so far this year in connection with such cases, Hsiao told a weekly MOFA briefing. Taiwanese passport holders are allowed visa-free entry to South Korea for tourism or business stays of up to 90 days. To prevent similar cases, Thai authorities have continued to step up screening of visa-free visitors at border checkpoints, he said. Visa-free travelers should not engage in illegal activities or activities prohibited under visa-exemption rules, including paid employment, Hsiao added.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 10:28 UTC
China rejects TPP legislator’s bid to renounce citizenship
China rejects TPP legislator’s bid to renounce citizenshipBy Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNATaiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) today said her application to renounce her Chinese citizenship was not accepted by her hometown authorities, while emphasizing that she is loyal to the Republic of China (Taiwan) and its Constitution as she was sworn in. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Li Zhenxiu in Taipei today holds up an application to renounce her Chinese citizenship. Li flew back to her birthplace in Hunan, China, to apply to renounce her Chinese nationality, but her application was not approved, she said. As the Mainland Affairs Council has said, no Chinese spouse has successfully renounced their Chinese citizenship because of their Taiwanese identity, Li said. Li said that she would forward the document rejecting her application to renounce her Chinese citizenship to the Ministry of the Interior, showing that renouncing Chinese citizenship is not so simple.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 10:10 UTC
KMT chairwoman says peaceful unification with China ‘premature’
KMT chairwoman says peaceful unification with China ‘premature’By Lin Hsin-han, Hollie Younger and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writers and CNAChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) recently said in an exclusive interview with The Economist that she considers peaceful unification with China “premature,” the party said today. In the interview on Tuesday last week, Cheng talked about cross-strait peace, national identity, national defense and security, US-China relations and her political career, the party said. Chinese Nationalist Party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun is pictured in an undated photograph. She said she hopes for exchanges and dialogue with China, including meeting Xi as she advocates for cross-strait reconciliation. Asked in the interview about Beijing’s high expectations for peaceful unification, she called herself a pragmatic politician.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 10:10 UTC
Banks can freeze accounts of departed foreigners: FSC
Banks can freeze accounts of departed foreigners: FSCBy Fion Khan / Staff writer, with CNAFinancial institutions can temporarily freeze the accounts of foreign nationals, as some of them are being heavily exploited as “dummy accounts” after the account holders leave Taiwan, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said today. An inter-agency consensus has been reached allowing financial institutions to temporarily freeze accounts held by foreign nationals under four circumstances, the FSC said. All financial institutions are connected to the National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) system to track the departure status of foreign nationals, an FSC official said. If any of the four circumstances are met, the NIA would provide the foreign national’s information to financial institutions for customer identity verification, the FSC said. Once the person’s identity is confirmed, the bank would temporarily freeze the account, meaning no withdrawals or transfers into the account would be permitted, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 03, 2026 08:09 UTC