Interest rates unchanged
Taiwan's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low after this afternoon's quarterly policy meeting. The Central Bank of China is keeping its key rediscount rate at 1.625 percent, the bank said in a statement. The bank has cut the rate 14 times since December 2000, most recently on Nov. 11. Meanwhile, the Central Bank announced it would suspend open-market operations yesterday, without giving any explanation for the suspension. Matured deposit receipts totaled NT$450 million yesterday and outstanding deposit receipts exceeded NT$2 trillion. Currency dealers said the suspension of CBC open market operations might be related to the onset of a US-led war in Iraq. The CBC has made maintaining stability of the NT dollar's exchange rate one of its priority goals at the moment.
Quanta to invest in Taiwan
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's biggest supplier of notebook computers, plans to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$2.9 billion) in Taiwan on expectations its business will grow, the Commercial Times reported. The company is looking for land close to its existing factories, located an hour south of Taipei, to build facilities for research and development of computer parts, the report said, citing company chairman Barry Lam (林百里). The report did not give a timetable for the plans. Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子), a flat-panel display venture between Quanta Computer and Japan's Sharp Corp, plans to start building a NT$300 million factory soon, the report said. In the first two months this year, Quanta Computer's sales rose by 72 percent to NT$34.7 billion from a year ago. Quanta Computer's sales growth exceeded that of smaller rivals Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) and Inventec Co (英業達) Compal's sales rose by 29 percent and Inventec's by 40 percent in the same period.
Acer to rival Dell in China
Acer Inc (宏電), Taiwan's biggest desktop-computer maker, plans to rival Dell Computer Corp, the world's No. 2 personal-computer maker, in China in three years, the Commercial Times said, citing Acer President Wang Chen-tang (王振堂). China's personal-computer market, which last year became the world's second largest after growing at a rate that exceeded most other nations, should be the target for computer suppliers, the report cited Wang as saying. Acer will expand a network of 18 distribution centers in China in competition with Dell, which takes orders via the Internet and by telephone, the report said. In China, a nation of 1.3 billion people, Dell had 5 percent of the market in the second half, according to market researcher International Data Corp. That compares with 27 percent for Legend Group Ltd., the biggest Chinese computer maker.
Macronix factory use to stabilize
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), Taiwan's largest maker of memory chips for electronic games, said its factory use would be stable in the first quarter. "This quarter's utilization level will be similar to the last quarter," chief financial officer Paul Yeh said at a technology conference organized by Merrill Lynch & Co in Taipei. The company said earlier that its fourth-quarter utilization rate fell to 57 percent from 70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001. Prices and demand for the company's products still haven't rebounded, Yeh said. Macronix shares rose 0.5 percent to NT$9.50.
NT dollar gains
The new Taiwan dollar gained against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.005 to close at NT$34.775. A total of US$666 million changed hands. The central bank said it "will intervene in the currency market if there are irrational or unreasonable factors affecting the market."
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the