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Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

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    Taiwan disc makers up on Toshiba plans to end HD DVD format

    TAIPEI
    Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:32am EST

    TAIPEI (Reuters) - Shares of Taiwan's major disc makers surged after Japan's Toshiba Corp said it plans to give up its HD DVD business after losing the support of key retailers.

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    CMC Magnetics, which supplies about a third of the world's DVD output and counts Sony Corp as a major client, rose 6.92 percent to T$9.73 at 0306 GMT, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX index, which advanced 0.37 percent.

    Ritek and Gigastorage, also disc makers, rose the daily 7 percent maximum on Monday after Toshiba told Reuters that it plans to exit from the HD DVD business.

    Toshiba had been battling Sony for next-generation DVDs, and investors cheered an impending end to a format war between the two Japanese vendors.

    "Everyone had been waiting to see who will win the format fight, so if Toshiba really exits, then it could really take off for Sony," said Sammy Lo, a spokeswoman for CMC.

    "Right now the demand is still small for HD DVD, but we expect to see huge growth in the area this year," she added.

    (US$1=T$31.72)

    (Reporting by Sheena Lee, editing by Ken Wills)
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