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Qualcomm shares fell 1.8 percent to $63.05 in after-market trading on Wednesday. The move comes after hedge fund Jana Partners called for Qualcomm to spin off its chip business from its highly profitable patent-licensing income, among other changes the activist asked for. “We decided we were going to take a fresh look at the corporate structure of the company,” Qualcomm president Derek Aberle said in an interview, adding that the chipmaker has reviewed its options twice already in the past decade.

By J.R. Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) – Companies such as electric motor scooter firm Gogoro could hold the key to Taiwan's economic growth. In just three years, the start-up, which counts Japan's Panasonic Corp as a strategic partner and Cher Wang, the founder of local smartphone maker HTC Corp as a key investor, raised $150 million to develop the smartphone-synched bike, and a charging network for it. Gogoro's success in creating a home-grown, innovative product is precisely what Taiwan's government wants to foster as it seeks to reduce the export-driven economy's reliance on the island's world-class tech manufacturing sector.

Fewer companies than Intel had expected replaced desktop PCs running on outdated Microsoft operating systems, leading to weak demand for its chips. Intel also cited “challenging” macroeconomic and currency conditions, particularly in Europe. Intel said on Thursday that it expected first-quarter revenue of $12.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million – about 7 percent lower than its earlier forecast of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Though dominant in the market for chips used in PCs, Intel has been slower than rivals such as Qualcomm Inc to adjust in recent years to the growing popularity of laptops and tablets.