■ New cinemas on the way
Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生活科技), a contractor in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) land development project adjacent to Taipei Railway Station, yesterday signed a 20-year contract with Warner Village Cinemas Co (華納威秀), which will open a cinema at the site. The venue is located at the corner of Civic Boulevard and Chengde Road, north of Taipei Railway Station. Radium, which invested NT$12 billion in the project, last August signed a contract with Chinatrust Hotels Ltd (中信觀光開發), which is scheduled to open a five-star hotel on the site at the end of 2008. Radium also plans to work with other companies to open a shopping mall and office buildings at the site.
■ Acer leaves BenQ board
Acer Inc, the world's third-largest computer maker, announced yesterday that it will withdraw from BenQ Corp's (明基) board of directors to maintain separate brand operations for both companies. Acer will give up its one seat on the seven-seat board of BenQ, while Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮) will maintain his seat on the board, the statement said. In recent years, Acer has been disposing shares in non-core businesses to focus on brand management, BenQ chief financial executive Eric Yu (游克用) said in the statement. The withdrawal would enable BenQ to have its own standalone management without much interference from Acer, he said. He added that Acer would stick to its reinvestment policy and might continue disposal of BenQ shares.
■ Taishin wants bigger stake
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控), which owns the nation's second-largest credit-card issuer, plans to increase its stake in Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) to more than 30 percent this year. "Hopefully we can raise the stake in Chang Hwa to at least 30 percent by the end of this year, and we don't rule out a merger next year," said Taishin chief financial officer Carol Lai (賴昭吟) yesterday. A merger would create the nation's fourth-largest financial group by market value. Taipei-based Taishin bought 22 percent of Chang Hwa in July for NT$36.6 billion (US$1.13 billion).
■ Farewell the Fokkers
Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) plans to order eight regional jets from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to replace its outdated Fokker planes, the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) reported yesterday. Mandarin Airlines was expected to sign a letter of intent for the eight jets yesterday and sign the contract in three weeks later, the report said. The firm plans to order three 104-seat Embraer 190s and five 116-seat Embraer 195s with delivery scheduled for between 2007 and 2009, the report said. The Commercial Times daily said Mandarin Airlines has chosen Embraer because an Embraer 190/195 jet is priced at about US$30 million, compared with US$40 million for a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320, as well as because the maintenance costs are 20-percent lower. Mandarin Airlines declined to confirm the reports but said it was mulling the introduction of new jets. "We have been planning to upgrade our fleet for a long time and have been in touch with many aircraft makers," Mandarin Airlines press officer Linda Hsiao (蕭曉玲) said.
■ NT dollar climbs
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.017 to close at NT$32.481 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$680 million.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI