■ Unaxis to invest US$30 million
Unaxis Holding AG, Europe's third-largest maker of semiconductor-production equipment, said it will invest NT$1 billion (US$30 million) in a Taiwanese unit that will assemble machinery to make materials for flat-panel displays used in computers and televisions.
The project in Chunan is the largest by Unaxis in the country, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
■ ASE buys NEC unit
Advanced Semiconductor Engin-eering Inc (日月光), the world's second-largest chip packager, said it expects US$165 million in sales during the next 12 months from its purchase of an NEC Electronics Corp unit.
Advanced Semiconductor completed the purchase of NEC's IC packaging and testing division, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement. Advanced Semiconductor agreed to buy NEC's operations for about US$40 million.
■ Chi Mei may snub China
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美) may consider investing elsewhere if it is not welcome in China, after state-run media recently branded its chairman Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) "persona non grata" for his perceived support for Taiwan's independence, according to a Chinese-language newspaper in Taipei.
In an interview with the paper, Hsu said "Chi Mei will consider investing in Vietnam and other countries where labor costs are lower," if China does not welcome the company.
"What Beijing is doing may have a negative effect on Chi Mei's chemical plant in China in the near term but it may also undermine other firms' interest to invest there," Hsu
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