TSMC agrees to end dispute
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電, TSMC) said yesterday it had agreed to settle a trade secret dispute with US-based UniRAM Technology Inc, which designs, develops and licenses high performance memory solutions.
“Both sides have agreed to terminate all the litigation process,” a TSMC spokesman said, but declined to disclose any terms about the settlement.
In September last year, a district court in San Francisco ruled in favor of UniRAM, awarding the company US$30.5 million in damages after it sued TSMC for misusing its trade secrets related to embedded memory chip products.
Park revenue grows 42 percent
Some 50 companies located in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) yesterday posted NT$221.8 billion (US$6.86 billion) in accumulated revenues for the first eight months of this year, or 42 percent growth year-on-year.
The park’s administration further expects sales of these companies to meet this year’s goal of NT$360 billion.
The park’s optronics companies had the highest revenues, taking up an 80 percent share of total company revenues, followed by integrated circuit companies at 18 percent and precision machinery companies’ 2 percent, the administration’s statistics showed yesterday.
Police arrest counterfeiters
Taiwanese authorities arrested six people suspected of counterfeiting 100 million yuan (US$14.1 million) as they tried to smuggle the fake cash into China, officials said yesterday.
Soldiers and police tracked the suspects, aged from 32 to 67, for nearly five months before pouncing as they tried to set off on a fishing boat for China, the National Police Agency said in a statement.
ECCT calls for more EU trade
The European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) called on the EU yesterday to enhance trade with Taiwan, saying that this would boost not only the EU’s export and production, but also its competitiveness in Asia.
The call came after Copenhagen Economics, a reputable international consultancy commissioned in January by the ECCT, released a report that found economic merits of EU-Taiwan trade enhancement measures (TEMs) worth billions of euro annually for both economies.
ECCT chairman Philippe Pellegrin yesterday said the chamber has called on the governments of both Taiwan and the EU to begin talks on TEMs — similar to free trade agreements.
NT dollar falls in credit crunch
The New Taiwan dollar declined yesterday for a third day as deepening turmoil in global credit markets damped investor demand for emerging-market assets.
The currency extended two weeks of losses after the cost of borrowing US dollars for three months in London rose last week to the highest level since January on speculation the credit crisis would mean more banks will have to be rescued.
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index fell to the lowest level since August 2004 as the global credit crisis worsened in Europe.
“Emerging markets are coming under the most pressure as far as currencies are concerned,” said Dwyfor Evans, a foreign-exchange strategist at State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong. “The problem is now being seen as a global issue rather than a US issue. People are selling regions en masse.”
The NT dollar fell as much as 0.48 percent to NT$32.343 against the US dollar, according to Taipei Forex Inc, on turnover of US$1.101 billion.
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