■CHINA
Loans dropped after quake
Millions of dollars in bad loans caused by China’s massive earthquake will be written off in an effort to help disaster victims, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday. The commission also ordered banks to write off bad credit card loans whose holders and guarantors died or went missing in the quake and who have no other assets to pay back the loans. It was not immediately clear how many loans would be written off, but the Agricultural Bank of China estimated it was facing up to 6 billion yuan (US$863 million) in bad loans linked to the earthquake.
■AUTOMOBILES
Hyundai chief stays home
The chairman of Hyundai has pulled out of a visit to China with South Korea’s president, an official at the presidential office said yesterday. Chung Mong-koo, who has been convicted of embezzling millions of dollars from Hyundai Motor Co, was among a group of South Korean business leaders due to accompany President Lee Myung-bak on an official visit to Beijing. Chung, 69, was sentenced to three years in jail in February last year for breach of trust and embezzling US$93 million in company funds.
■AVIATION
Boeing delays new jet
The Boeing Co has pushed back the date for a possible replacement to its popular 737 jet by several years, saying it needs more time to advance the underlying technology. Chicago-based Boeing spokeswoman Sandy Angers said in an interview on Friday that conversations with airline customers made it clear that requirements for a replacement plane — 15 percent to 20 percent better fuel efficiency, 25 percent lower maintenance costs — would require major technological advances in aerodynamics, materials, and the jet’s engine and electrical systems, among other areas. Angers said that first deliveries of a replacement 737 are now expected in the latter part of the next decade instead of in 2012.
■AUTOMOBILES
Suzuki may import Splash
Suzuki Motor Corp is considering selling its European-made Splash family car in Japan, the first time the automaker would import vehicles for the domestic market. “We’re considering the introduction of the model” in Japan from our Hungarian plant, company spokesman Yoichi Kojima said yesterday by telephone. Suzuki will import the model this year because its factories at home are already running at full capacity, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. The Splash was developed as the third global strategic model after the Swift and SX models.
■FINANCE
Brazil to vote on fund
Plans for the country to invest state assets in a new sovereign wealth fund will likely head to the nation’s congress in the next few weeks, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Friday. The fund will likely hold the equivalent of US$10 billion to US$20 billion, Mantega said when he announced its creation about 10 days ago. Much of the cash would be lent to Brazilian companies looking to boost trade and investments abroad, he said. The bill will be sent next week for the president’s approval before being forwarded to the legislature for consideration, the finance minister said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is