■INSURANCE
Nan Shan customers flee
American International Group’s (AIG) Taiwanese life insurance unit said customers terminated about NT$20 million (US$624,025) in policies this week after the New York-based company agreed to give up a 79.9 percent stake in return for a bailout. The unit is operating as normal, April Pan (潘玲嬌), a spokeswoman at Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), 95 percent owned by AIG, said yesterday. Nan Shan’s premium income was NT$255.7 billion for the fiscal year ended on Nov. 30, last year, Pan said. Nan Shan has total assets of NT$1.5 trillion, 23 branches and more than 380 agency offices as of the end of July, according to the company’s Web site.
■FINANCE
Lehman fallout limited
China Construction Bank (中國建設銀行), one of the country’s four largest banks, revealed it has a US$191.4 million exposure to Lehman Brothers and said it was not expected to have a “significant impact.” In a statement on its Web site on Friday, the Chinese bank announced that it and its subsidiaries held US$141.4 million in senior bonds from the collapsed US investment bank and US$50 million in subordinated bonds. The bonds represented 0.019 percent of the net assets of the banking group, it said. “It is expected that the Lehman Brothers event will not have any significant impact on the financial position of the bank,” the bank said.
■COMPUTERS
Apple recalls adapters
Apple said on Friday it would replace power adapters sold with its popular iPhone 3G mobile telephones because of a risk prongs could snap and cause people to be jolted by electricity. “We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported,” the California company said on a Web page providing adapter exchange details. The part Apple is offering to replace is an “Ultracompact USB power adapter” reportedly included with iPhone 3G models sold in Japan, Canada, Mexico, the US and a half dozen South American countries. Instructions for getting Apple adapters replaced were online at www.apple.com.
■ELECTRONICS
Philips to boost margins
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics, plans to boost margins by ending losses at the television unit and raising prices, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gerard Kleisterlee said. The “overarching” goal is to more than double earnings before interest, tax and amortization per share by 2010, the CEO said in an interview at Philips headquarters in Amsterdam. “The primary goal is doubling Ebita per share and all the other elements are means to an end,” Kleisterlee said.
■ENERGY
Venezuela inks gas accords
Venezuela signed accords with private companies from more than a half-dozen countries on Friday, launching a major push into natural gas projects that are expected to bring some US$19.6 billion in joint investment. State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA signed eight agreements to develop offshore natural gas deposits with US-based Chevron Corp, Russia’s Gazprom, Italy’s Eni SpA, Portugal’s GALP Energia, Qatar Petroleum, Malasyia’s Petronas, Argentina’s Enarsa and the Japanese companies Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Itochu Corp. Officials expect joint investment over the next eight years to hit some US$19.6 billion, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
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