Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's top telecommunications company, yesterday denied it had withheld or leaked any information about the acquisition of a handset retailer beforehand.
In a statement the company said it had not been involved in any wrongdoing in the purchase, after prosecutors began investigating the deal yesterday.
The statement was issued in response to comments by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lwo Shih-hsiung (羅世雄), who on Monday voiced his suspicions about the unusual rally in shares of Senao International Co (神腦國際) before Chunghwa Telecom's board approved the acquisition on Dec. 26.
"After being alerted by a lawmaker, we dispatched prosecutors to investigate whether there may have been insider trading," said Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.
Chunghwa announced on Dec. 26 that its board had given the go-ahead to purchase a 32.5 percent stake, or 72.52 million shares, in the local handset retail chain.
Chunghwa said at the time that it would buy Senao shares at NT$15.10 each to boost its lukewarm third-generation (3G) telecom service business.
The Economic Daily News yesterday printed allegations by a board director that Chunghwa had doctored its board meeting record last November to hide evidence of insider trading.
The report, citing Simon Chang (張緒中), head of the company's labor union who is also one of the board directors, said the company erased the records on board members discussing a plan to buy Senao shares.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”