■ First Financial president quits
First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), which owns the nation's fourth-biggest bank by assets, said Steve Shieh (謝壽夫) quit as the company's president after less than four months in the job.
Shih remains the company's chairman.
Tsai Jer-shyong (蔡哲雄), president of First Financial's First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) unit, is the company's new president, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
"This is a division of responsibilities as Shieh will be focused on blueprinting the company's strategy and direction," said Barro Yang, spokesman for First Financial's investor relations department.
"Tsai will concentrate on operational issues," Yang said.
Shieh, the former president of Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), was named by the Ministry of Finance as chairman of First Financial in August after the former president, Ray Dawn (董瑞彬), and chairman, Jerome Chen (陳建隆), resigned. Shieh assumed both duties, Yang said.
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■ Flat-TV makers' shares slump
Shares of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and other Taiwanese makers of liquid-crystal displays may extend this quarter's losses amid concern flat-panel televisions won't sell fast enough to keep new plants fully occupied.
"People worry about LCD TVs not being promoted quickly enough," said Simon Chao, who helps manage the equivalent of US$300 million for President Investment Trust Co (統一投信). "I'm worried about oversupply."
Shares of AU Optronics have fallen 4.2 percent this quarter; in the previous two quarters, the stock leaped 136 percent as the company added production lines to boost output of LCD TVs.
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) is down 15 percent this quarter after climbing 82 percent in the previous two quarters.
For shoppers, the sticking point may be price. Although LCD TVs are about one-quarter cheaper than a year ago they still are three times the cost of the bulky glass-tube TVs they're designed to replace
■ Advanced Semiconductor No. 1
Advanced Semiconductor Engi-
neering Inc (日月光) took over from Amkor Technology as the world's No. 1 chip-packager last month, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing unidentified Ad-vanced Semiconductor officials.
The company, which has been investing in new technology amid a three-year industry slump, has more orders than it can meet from chipmakers that cut spending on equipment used to assemble and test chips, the paper said.
Advanced Semiconductor, the world's second-largest chip packager last year, said sales last month rose 42 percent from a year earlier to NT$3.4 billion (US$100 million) compared with NT$2.4 billion a year ago.
■ Hong Kong IPO raises HK$423m
Chia Hsin Cement Greater China Holding Corp (嘉新水泥中國控股), a unit of Taiwan's Chia Hsin Cement Corp (嘉新水泥), raised about HK$423 million (US$54.5 million) through an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
The unit sold 286 million shares, including 200.2 million new shares and 85.8 million existing shares, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The stock, which will starting trading on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong today, was priced at HK$1.48 a share.
Chia Hsin Cement earlier reported net income for the year's first nine months to Sept. 30 rose a half to NT$517 million.
■ NT dollar remains weak
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday remained weak against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.008 to close at NT$34.048 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$403 million.
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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
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