TSMC denies SMIC's charges
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's biggest producer of made-to-order chips, denied allegations in a counter lawsuit filed by China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯).
TSMC also denied SMIC's claim that it became the world's third-largest maker of customized semiconductors solely on its own merit, according to a response the Hsinchu-based company filed in the California Superior Court of Alameda County.
"SMIC's theft and continued misuse of TSMC confidential technologies and related information has been a key factor in SMIC's growth," TSMC said in the response dated Oct. 12.
According to TSMC's response, SMIC misused TSMC's confidential technologies and information through a "management-driven scheme" that included "SMIC's early hiring of over 100 key employees from TSMC and its affiliates, and SMIC's direct solicitation of then-current and former TSMC employees to provide confidential TSMC information."
CIER eyes China exchanges
The Chang-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) will step up exchanges with its Chinese counterparts in order to provide better counseling to Taiwanese businesspeople working in China, CIER chairman Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said yesterday.
Administering the handover between the institution's new president, Daigee Shaw (蕭代基), and outgoing president Ko Chen-en (柯承恩), Siew said that with more Taiwanese businesspeople breaking into the Chinese markets, CIER should help them to understand the market there and avoid the pitfalls.
He also urged Shaw to upgrade the quality of CIER studies and reports, step up its exchanges with international counterparts and maintain friendly relations with its domestic counterparts, which he said means not offending them by competing for government contracts.
FDI could break annual record
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Taiwan amounted to US$8.88 billion in the first eight months of this year and is expected to break the US$10 billion mark by year's end, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said on Thursday.
Chen said inbound investment from January through August set an eight-month record.
If the trend continues, he said, the annual foreign direct investment in Taiwan will hit US$10 billion for the first time this year.
Chen said as Taiwanese companies have accumulated rich experience in doing business in Southeast Asia, foreign firms are welcome to cooperate with them in tapping the Southeast Asian market. Taiwan ranks among top three foreign investors in Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, he said.
BTCO urges UK investment
As global demand for information and communications technology (ICT) rises, Taiwanese ICT companies are encouraged to invest in the UK, which offers great opportunities for Taiwanese firms, a British official said on Thursday.
The 175 Taiwanese companies that currently invest in the UK primarily do so for the country's "cutting-edge and world-leading R&D capabilities," said David Percival, head of the Inward Investment Section of the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO).
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also make their marks as well, as the British government offers incentive programs, Percival said.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar maintained strength against its US counterpart yesterday, advancing NT$0.109 to close at NT$33.130 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$851 million.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last