A senior Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) official confirmed yesterday that it has summoned United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
The commission wants Tsao to explain how UMC was offered a 15 percent stake in He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co (
"A colleague at the commission met Tsao earlier today," commission Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
Kong declined to identify the official, saying only that the official's rank was senior enough to represent the commission.
Kong did not elaborate on the details of the meeting with Tsao.
The UMC boss returned from an overseas trip late on Sunday.
Tsao had left the country on March 22 after publishing an announcement on March 21 that He Jian offered UMC a 15-percent stake in the company worth US$110 million.
INVESTMENT COMMISSION INTERESTED
But Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (
Kong and other commission officials were grilled yesterday by 17 ruling and opposition party lawmakers -- not only in relation to the UMC case, but also the commission's handling of other corporate scandals over the past year, including Procomp Informatics Co (
Procomp, which makes chips for communications and networking equipment, filed a restructuring application in June last year on the eve of a NT$2.98 billion bond payment default.
Top management at the company were found later to have illegally manipulated the company's stock, with chairwoman Sophie Yeh (葉素菲) sentenced to 20 years in jail last October.
LAWMAKERS DEMAND
Lawmakers yesterday demanded that the FSC provide the legislature with a detailed report within two weeks on three seperate issues. They are UMC's allegedly unlawful investment in He Jian, last month's planned three-way merger of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) and suspected insider trading by China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) last week.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six