■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.
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