Skoda models on the way
Formosa Automobile Corp (台朔汽車) yesterday said it will unveil a range of Skoda cars from the Czech Republic, with prices from NT$750,000 to NT$2 million, at the 2006 Taipei International Auto Show, which begins on Saturday at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I.
One Skoda diesel model is equipped with a 2-liter engine and high-tech interior facilities such as a sunroof powered by solar energy, which can be opened and closed without starting the ignition. Other sedan models will come with 1.4-liter or 1.9-liter engines.
TAITRA reports success
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday said 153 foreign brandname companies have signed up for its brand-licensing program.
Set up by TAITRA in 2003, the International Brand Alliance assists international brand owners with expanding their business in the Taiwanese market through cooperation with domestic companies.
"Through the program, local companies will increase their products' added value and boost their brand management capability," said Mike Lin (林俊杰), manager of TAITRA's department of market development.
Genius' stocks soar
Optical lensmaker Genius Elec-tronics (玉晶光電) saw share prices surge 110 percent to close at NT$499, setting the record for a single-day gain on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company began at NT$238 on the main board but soon saw its price jump to as high as NT$503 in the session.
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