Taiwan Cement delays purchase
Taiwan Cement Corp (台泥), the nation's largest cement maker, said it had to delay acquiring Hong Kong-listed Chia Hsin Cement Greater China Holding Corp (嘉新水泥中國控股) for two weeks as it failed to complete purchasing more than 90 percent of outstanding shares as required by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.
Taiwan Cement was slated to complete the acquisition on Tuesday, but had to apply for a two-week extension to Oct. 16, president Huang Chien-chiang (黃健強) said yesterday.
Taiwan Cement has acquired 71.56 percent of Chia Hsin from the company officials and major shareholders, Huang said. The company also bought 75 percent of Chia Hsin's outstanding shares, but to delist Chia Hsin from the Hong Kong bourse and conclude the acquisition, Taiwan Cement needs to purchase more than 90 percent of its outstanding shares, Huang said.
Taiwan Cement hopes to integrate and expand its Chinese business through the buyout. After the merger, its production in China is expected to reach 50 million tonnes per year, the company predicted earlier.
Chi Mei to buy Tainan stock
The nation's second-biggest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics Co (奇美電子) yesterday said it would obtain a 67 percent stake in a small-and-medium panel module company for NT$1.5 billion to benefit from fast-growing demand.
In a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Chi Mei said it would buy 150 million shares of Chi Hsin Electronics Corp (奇信電子), based in Tainan, at NT$10 per share.
The price of small-and-medium displays rose 20 percent to US$1,052 in the second quarter from a year ago due to growing demand for panels used in media players, portable DVD players and PDAs, Austin, Texas-based market researcher DisplaySearch said.
Intrinsyc opens Taipei office
Vancouver-based Intrinsyc Software International Inc has opened its first Asian operation in Taipei to expand its business in the Asia-Pacific region, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement yesterday. The permanent Taipei Office was opened last Thursday, according to a company release.
The office will serve as a business and engineering hub, providing local Soleus software support and wireless engineering services to Asia-Pacific customers, the release said. The company also announced that it had signed its first engineering services agreement with a leading Taiwan-based original equipment manufacturer of wireless handheld devices, without naming the company.
"The announcement of Intrinsyc's first Taiwan-based wireless engineering services win, to be fulfilled by our Taiwan operation, is an important milestone for our business ramp in Asia," Glenda Dorchak, chairman and CEO of Intrinsyc, said in the release.
"Supported by the opening of our Taipei office and a strong local engineering team, we provide our existing Soleus customers and prospective customers with a full wireless software and service offering that delivers greater flexibility, faster time to market and lower development costs," she said.
MOE invites companies
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has invited three more information technology service companies to join its "Best E-Services export of Taiwan" (BEST) Flagship Program, in which the ministry will help firms in this sphere boost their exports and elevate their competitiveness.
From last year, seven projects involving 46 information technology service companies under the program have increased revenue of NT$3 billion (US$92,880), with NT$1.7 billion going for exports.
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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