A majority of the 15 board members at the Agricultural Bank of Taiwan (
"We hope the government can find another candidate, someone who will live up to the agricultural sector's expectations," said Wang Hsueh-hui (王雪慧), one of the state-run bank's eight board members who refused to approve the government's appointment in two previous board meetings earlier this month.
In the interim, bank chairman Huang Lee-yue (黃李越) has doubled as president and will do so until the board finalizes its decision for the state-run bank, 49 percent of whose shares have been owned by the Council of Agriculture since its establishment in May 2005.
Wang, who is also manager of the Banciao Farmers' Association (板橋農會), said yesterday that the eight holdouts would not change their position until the government has appointed a new financial professional to run the agricultural bank.
Huang said that despite the rampant speculation, representatives from farmers' and fishermen's associations had no intention of appointing one of their own.
"We have no pocket candidate," she said, urging the government to drop the political appointment.
The bank said it had no plan to schedule another board meeting anytime soon, as it may need some time to find a candidate acceptable to both sides -- the board and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.
Chen, 55, a brother of Chiayi County DPP Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), was formerly president of the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行) before moving to Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), Waterland Financial Holding Co (國票金控) and the Farmers' Association of Taiwan Province (台灣省農會).
Despite his financial background, Chen is considered "unqualified" for the position, said a board member who requested anonymity.
The board member said Chen had failed to provide a clear answer when he was asked if there would be a conflict of interest between his ties to the DPP government and what would be best for the agricultural sector.
"He said he would resign. But what we need is someone who can help us communicate with the government and come up with the best policies," the board member said.
The grassroots farmers' association has long expressed its concern over Chen's suitability for the position.
A manager at a farmers' association in central Taiwan, who requested not to be named, said that during a meeting last month, more than 20 managers had questioned Chen's political affiliation. Managers from Taipei and Kaohsiung
failed to attend, the source said.
“What we really hope is for a professional with financial expertise to run our assets since almost all farmers deposit their savings in the bank,” he said.
The agricultural council, however, has so has shown no sign it would back down on the appointment.
“We hope there will be more time to discuss the personnel matter with board members,” said Hsu Jyh-ming (徐智明), deputy director of the council's bureau of agricultural finance and who is one of the bank's five board members representing the government.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
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
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been