CAL board reelects chairman
The board of China Airlines Co (華航) yesterday re-elected chairman Lee Yun-ling (李雲寧), despite market speculation that Christine Tsung (宗才怡), chairwoman of the Grand Hotel (圓山飯店), would get the job. Tsung earned a seat on the airlines' board in May.
Chinese-language media had speculated that the government would ask Tsung to take up the carrier's chairmanship if Lee retired this month.
After the election, Lee thanked the board for their support. He said the carrier has been hit hard by SARS over the last two months.
"So far, the average load factor has reached 80 percent. China Airlines expects to resume full capacity in summer," he said. "Increase of flight frequency and service to new destination are being plotted."
The carrier's president, Philip Wei (魏幸雄), was also reelected for another term yesterday.
Tesco links up with Citibank
Tesco Stores Co Taiwan (特易購), a UK-based hypermarket with four outlets around the country, yesterday linked up with Citibank Taiwan to implement a on-line inquiry service designated to help improve efficiencies in supply chain management and financing service.
"We aim to build a closer relationship with suppliers by providing thorough information to them," David Orchard-Smith, chief executive officer of Tesco Taiwan, said at a press conference.
He said that through the system, Tesco suppliers will be able to monitor financial data online anytime to facilitate the accounting managements.
The Tesco project will be a benchmark for Citibank in provide advanced supply-chain management to the retail-service industry, said Jerry Chen (陳亮丞), head of global transaction services at Citibank Taiwan.
UMC posts mixed sales result
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) said yesterday that sales last month rose 4.72 percent from a year earlier to NT$7.03 billion (US$204.48 million). The figures, however, were down from NT$7.36 billion in May.
In the first half of the year, the sales of the world's second largest contract microchip maker rose to NT$39.60 billion from NT$30.74 billion a year earlier, the company said.
The second quarter capacity utilization rate was expected to exceed 80 percent, up from 67 percent in the first three months, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電) showed a faster growth rate, as it said earlier this week that its sales last month rose 14.27 percent to NT$17.85 billion from NT$15.62 billion a year earlier and were up 6.2 percent from May. In the first half of the year, TSMC's sales increased to NT$89.25 billion from NT$79.97 billion.
Rating unchanged by deal
Standard and Poor's Ratings Ser-vices said yesterday that its ratings on Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) would not be affected by the company's announcement last Friday that it had secured a contract worth NT$298 billion to supply liquefied natural gas to Taiwan Power Co's (Taipower, 台電) new Tatan thermal plant for 25 years.
"Although Chinese Petroleum's bid was well below Taipower's reference price of NT$400 billion, Chinese Petroleum expects a profit margin of between 7 percent and 10 percent on the contract because the company is able to secure a supply of low-cost LNG from Qatar," S&P said in a statement.
NT dollar hits 10-month high
The New Taiwan dollar had its highest close in 10 months as the currency rose NT$3.0 against the US dollar to close at NT$34.350 on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday.
Turnover was US$363 million.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last