The Investment Commission yesterday approved 20 China-bound investment applications worth US$721.79 million, it said in a statement.
The commission gave the green light to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest electronics component maker, to invest US$47.95 million in its Chinese affiliate Foxconn Precision Electronics (Langfang) Co (富士康精密電子廊坊).
Local chip tester and packager Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) also received the go-ahead to invest US$90 million in its Shanghai subsidiary, ASE Assembly and Test (日月光封裝測試), while Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) was approved to invest US$100 million in its Chinese subsidiary Powertech China Ltd (力成中國科技).
In the field of finance, the commission approved an application by Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest financial services company by market value, to indirectly invest US$25.5 million in China’s Xiamen City Commercial Bank (廈門市商銀).
The Financial Supervisory Commission gave the green light last month to Fubon Financial’s application to take a 19.99 percent stake in Xiamen City Commercial Bank for US$34 million via its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation’s largest life insurer, was also approved to inject US$59 million into its Chinese life insurance joint venture to increase its capital, the statement said.
The Shanghai-based Chinese subsidiary is a joint venture established by Cathay Life and China Eastern Air Holding Co (中國東方航空) in 2005.
Separately, the commission approved a proposal by United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the world’s second-largest contract chipmaker, to invest US$390 million in its branch in Singapore, the statement said.
As for inbound investment, the commission gave the go-ahead to AIG Life Insurance Co and Delaware American Life Insurance Co’s applications to invest US$360.39 million in their local subsidiary, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽).
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the