■ Bigger bonuses paid
The economy's recovery has encouraged more employers to pay bonuses for the Dragon Boat Festival, according to a poll released yesterday by an online job bank. Some 72.83 percent of the companies polled said they would provide employees a bonus -- NT$1,279 per person, on average -- for this year's festival, which occurs today, the 9999 Job Bank said. Those figures are increases on the 66.38 percent of employers who paid bonuses averaging NT$1,161 per person last year, the job bank said. Among employers who planned to give out cash bonuses, 21.29 percent said the payments would come in under NT$500 and 43.61 percent said the bonuses would be between NT$501 and NT$1,000. In addition to cash, about 14 percent of employers planned to give rice dumplings to employees, while 8.56 percent planned to provide gift coupons, according to the survey. The poll was based on 935 respondents polled between June 6 and June 17.
■ China Airlines gets financing
China Airlines (CAL, 華航) yesterday signed a US$ 235 million (US$7.12 million) financing contract with Calyon, a leading French bank, for the airline's acquisition of three new Airbus A330-300 aircraft, the company said in a statement. China Airlines ordered 14 A330-300s from Airbus Industrie in 2002, and will take delivery between this year and 2007. The A330s will eventually replace the carrier's A300-600Rs on Asian regional routes departing from Taipei and Kaohsiung. "We are pleased to entrust Calyon as the manager, underwriter and security trustee for this financing," said Phillip Wei (魏幸雄), president of CAL, during a ceremony. Wei declined to disclose the interest rate for the 12-year loan contract, but said the financing is guaranteed by European export credit agencies. The first three aircraft are to be delivered late this month, next month and in December. Despite high fuel prices, CAL has managed to keep fuel costs low through hedging. As a result, the carrier foresees solid growth for this year, and expects to post an after-tax profit of NT$ 3.1 billion for the year.
■ Chi Mei denies rumor
Chi Mei Group (奇美), whose founder was criticized by the Chinese state media for supposed pro-independence views, denied reports that it planned to close a plastics plant in eastern China after the government issues a ban on river shipments of a key raw material. China's decision this month to ban transportation of acrylonitrile on the Yangtze River and to impose a US$10 per tonne surcharge on ground shipments will force the company to raise prices or find ways to cut costs at the plant in Zhenjiang, a company official said. Acrylonitrile is a toxic raw material used to make acrylic rubber and fibers. "Chi Mei intends to continue the Zhenjiang operation even though China's environmental protection measures will increase our costs," the official said, denying a report in a Chinese-language newspaper that the plant may shut down.
■ NT dollar rises
The NT dollar strengthened for the first time in three days after Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc (MSCI) said it would include the nation's stocks in its global indexes, a step that will encourage overseas investors to buy local shares. Fund managers who control US$3 trillion use MSCI's indexes to gauge performance. Foreign investors will need to buy local currency to pay for their equity purchases. The NT rose NT$0.010 to close at NT$33.775 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$515.5 million.
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