The board of Taiwan's largest air carrier was reshuffled yesterday by the government foundation that controls the company, leaving only one member from the previous board
The move -- part of the government's plan to improve the state-run airline's flight safety record -- follows last month's announcement by Minister of Transportation and Communications (MOTC, 交通部), Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), that the government will make flight safety a top priority.
China Aviation Development Foundation (CADF, 中華航空事業發展基金會), China Airlines' (CAL, 中華航空公司) major share holder, announced the list of CAL's new board of directors yesterday, with its chairman Chiang Hung-yi (蔣洪彝) the only survivor from the previous board.
Media and industry concerns have centered on who would take the posts of the new chairman and president of this state-controlled carrier, and whether political factors would determine the nomination of the two key posts. CADF, which owns 71 percent of the state-controlled carrier, has said that the tenure of the 11 board members and one supervisor would be from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2003.
New board members include Lee Yun-ning (李雲寧), chairman of Far Eastern Air Transport Co (遠東航空公司) in which China Airlines has a stake. Other new board members include Huang Chu-cheng (黃居正), CAL legal affairs manager; Chuang Hsu-fen (莊淑芬), chairman of Ogilvy & Mather (Taiwan); Kao Chih-cheng (高志誠), chairman of I-Mei Foods (義美食品); Lu Chieh-cheng (呂桔誠), vice president of KBC Bank (Belgium) NV Taiwan and Ken H C Chiu (邱晃泉), a partner in the law firm, Kew & Lord.
Industry sources, who asked not to be identified, speculated that Far Eastern Air Transport's Lee may be in the running to replace Chiang as chairman.
Meanwhile, another new board member, Tsong Tsai-yi (宗才怡), a consultant for the Kaohsiung City Government Department of Rapid Transit Systems, (高雄市政府捷運局), is said to be the choice of the MOTC chief to take over the post of president at CAL, according to the source. CAL officials declined to comment on candidate selection for the two positions.
"The election of the new chair and president is scheduled for (tomorrow) at the first meeting of the new board, " said company spokesperson Scott Shih (石炳煌).
The boards of both CADF and CAL will need to implement a long-delayed plan to sell at least 50 percent of the foundation's shares in the carrier.
First announced in October 1998, the share sell-off failed after US investment bank Salomon Smith Barney failed to find a buyer to pay the foundation's asking price.
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
RSS