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■ UMC, Rambus expand IP deal
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) said yesterday that it and Rambus Inc, a top US technology licensing company specializing in high-speed chip interfaces, will expand their licensing agreement. Under the agreement, UMC customers will gain access to Rambus' broad portfolio of PCI Express-based interfaces drawing on UMC's 0.18 micron, 0.15 micron 90-nanometer (nm) processes, adding to the 0.13 micron technology made available last year. The PCI Express interface standard is one of the industry's most successful for chip-to-chip interconnects and can be found in system applications ranging from supercomputers to PCs and digital TVs. "We are pleased to expand our licensing agreement with Rambus to make its proven IP solutions available to a broader range of technologies, including our mainstream 90nm process," Ken Liou (劉康懋), director of UMC's IP and Design Support Division, said in a statement.

■ Mega board endorses M&A plan
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), Taiwan's second-largest financial company by assets, has endorsed chairman Cheng Shen-chih's (鄭深池) plan to seek merger and acquisition opportunities. Cheng was "authorized by the board of directors to represent the company for talks in mergers and acquisitions with others at the appropriate time," the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late yesterday. The government wants to halve the number of financial holding companies in the nation in two years, to help them compete with overseas rivals such as Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc. It's offering merger incentives to the nearly 50 banks and 300 community-level lending associations that compete for business among about 23 million people. Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) on July 22 agreed to pay NT$36.6 billion (US$1.14 billion) for management control of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), creating the second-largest banking group in Taiwan in terms of assets.

■ IDB eyes pharmaceuticals
The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) is working to form a pharmaceutical export strategic alliance as part of its efforts to help local manufacturers make inroads into overseas markets, bureau officials said yesterday. Ten pharmaceutical companies have expressed a willingness to join the alliance, which will be aimed at seeking generic drug export and overseas OEM orders, as well as at trying to gain market share in the US and Japan for Taiwan drug makers. According to the IDB, the output of the pharmaceutical industries in Europe, Japan and the US accounts for more than 80 percent of the global total. As Japan enacted a new law in April regulating the separation of the production and sale of pharmaceuticals and as the US government has been encouraging the use of generic drugs, now is the perfect time for Taiwanese pharmaceutical companies to make inroads into these markets, the officials said. The bureau has plans to form three strategic alliances to push for the export of 10 to 15 kinds of generic drugs. It's expected that in five years, Taiwan's pharmaceutical exports will increase NT$10 billion (US$3.1 billion) , posting an annual growth rate of over 20 percent.

■ NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.151 to close at NT$32.280. A total of US$1.06 billion changed hands during the day's trading.

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