Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) could have difficulty getting its hands on a NT$15.8 billion (US$481.3 million) loan from US investment bank Lehman Brothers given government concerns that it may involve funds from China.
"We have followed the rules in applying for the loan ... We can only wait for the government's final decision," THSRC spokesman Arthur Chiang (
THSRC, the operator of the nation's high speed rail, secured a NT$65.5 billion syndicated loan from Lehman Brothers and seven local banks, including Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Fuhwa Commercial Bank (復華銀行), in May.
Of the total, Lehman Brothers will provide NT$15.8 billion, with THSRC using the right to develop five major stations -- Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi and Tainan -- for 50 years as collateral for the loan.
As Lehman Brothers and IBM Corp had established a China Investment Fund with an initial capitalization of US$180 million last October, some Taiwanese officials have voiced concerns that the loan might involve Chinese funds, allowing China to control the right to develop THSRC stations, the Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday.
Chinese investments are banned in Taiwan.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has yet to make a decision on the case, the report said.
Despite the snag, operations at the high-speed rail remained normal, it added.
"We are still alive," Chiang said.
THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) said during a ceremony last month to announce the syndicated loan agreement that she hoped the company would break even in the third quarter.
The bullet train system posted revenues of NT$1.03 billion and NT$1.15 billion in April and May respectively. Chiang refused to reveal sales for last month, saying THSRC was only required to report the figure to the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail.
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS