The chairwoman of the Grand Hotel (
"It can't be denied that China Airlines began to turn a profit during her tenure, which makes her management contributions useful to the carrier's future privatization plan if she sits on the board," DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said yesterday in response to Tsung's appointment.
Tsung, who took the 51-year-old hotel's chairmanship last October, served as the carrier's president in July 2000.
She was later appointed to head the Ministry of Economic Affairs last February, becoming the nation's first female economics minister, but also the most short-tenured, spending only 48 days in office.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
Tsung is expected to take up the seat left by Joseph Lu (
Lu is slated to take office as the president of the state-run Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀) beginning next Monday.
Lin is also the chairman of the quasi-governmental China Aviation Development Foundation (
Her appointment, however, immediately prompted media speculation that the government is paving the way for Tsung, a crony of President Chen Shu-bian (陳水扁), to later take up the carrier's chairmanship if current chairman Lee Yun-ling (李雲寧) retires in July.
Lin flatly denied the speculation yesterday.
"The government has no plans to reshuffle the carrier's top management since Lee and president Philip Wei (
Despite having secured a government loan of NT$4.5 billion, shares of China Airlines dropped by NT$0.15 to close at NT$12.95 on the TAIEX yesterday.
A market analyst yesterday said the carrier's underperforming stock is the result of SARS and has nothing to do with any of its leadership changes.
"If Tsung should re-enter the airline, the carrier's management will remain strong based on her past commendable performance," said Wang Teng-cheng (王登城) of Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Man-agement Co (元大京華投顧).
Tsung's new task may also help bridge a future strategic partnership between the hotel and the carrier, said Michael Chen (
"It's good news for the hotel since such a partnership, if possible, is sure to beef up our competitiveness," Chen said.
The hotel's occupancy rate dropped below 20 percent in early May, but recovered to hit 50 percent in the past few days, according to Hu Heng-li (
Tsung has demonstrated strong leadership with the hotel's 700-staff after taking over last October.
"It'll be a loss to the hotel" if Tsung should take up a managerial post at China Airlines, Hu said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is