■ Delegation investigates RFID
A Taiwanese delegation departed for the US over the weekend, aiming to gain insight about the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology there, the National Science Council said in a statement yesterday. The 36-member delegation, which consists of government officials, industry associations and private companies, is scheduled to visit various US government agencies and companies such as IBM Corp and Oracle Corp between July 31 and Aug. 9. "The application of RFID has become a global trend since the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart earlier this year required its major [top 100] suppliers to adopt the technology [by January 2005]," Minister without Portfolio Lin Ferng-ching (林逢慶), who is also head of the delegation, said in the statement. RFID, an identifying and tracking technology, allows tiny chips (tags) to communicate with detectors wirelessly and transmit information from a unique serial number to complex product details. The technology is now applied to many fields, including national defense, logistics management, retail inventory management, and is expected to affect industrial supply chains, medical treatment and biotech in the future, Lin said
■ CSMC halves IPO plan
CSMC Technologies Corp (華潤上華科技), a China-based supplier of chips for consumer electronics, toys and watches, is reviving its initial public offer by slashing the amount it raises by half after investors shunned the sale. CSMC plans to sell 621 million shares at between HK$0.50 and HK$0.54 each in the revived sale, raising as much as HK$335.3 million (US$43 million), chief financial officer Frank Lai (黎汝雄) said. That's as much as half the maximum amount it planned to raise in June. The company last month failed to complete its initial public offer after investors bid at a price lower than the range marketed to them. The reduced price range represents between 1 to 1.05 times its 2004 forecast book value, Lai said. The company plans to re-open the public offer today and investors have until Friday to place their orders, Lai said. It plans to start trading in Hong Kong on Aug. 13. The revived sale comes after shares of its peer Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路) rose 6.4 percent since last week. The first Chinese chipmaker to sell shares overseas posted its third straight quarterly profit by tripling sales last week.
■ Uni-President may exit JVs
Uni-President Group (統一集團) is planning to dispose of its stakes in property and life insurance joint ventures with Allianz Holding AG, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. Uni-President may want to sell its stake in both the Allianz President Insurance Co and Allianz President General Insurance, the paper said, citing Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿), head of Uni-President. Currently two insurers -- Tokyo Marine & Fire Insurance Co and Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co -- are interested in buying Allianz President General Insurance, the paper added.
■ NT rises in line with yen, euro
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart in line with the strength in Japanese yen and euro, dealers said. The US dollar eased against the yen and euro in Asian trade yesterday after the US economy grew at a weaker-than-expected rate in the second quarter this year, they added. The NT dollar rose NT$0.033 against the greenback to close at NT$33.103 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$260 million.
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