Gas, diesel prices to fall
The state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday that domestic gasoline and diesel prices will be lowered by NT$0.4 per liter respectively, effective today, to reflect the recent fall in international crude oil prices.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$22.3, 95-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$20.8, 92-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$20.1 and diesel is NT$16.8. Prices of domestic gasoline and diesel are at their lowest levels in five years.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner, yesterday also announced the same price cut as CPC.
Formosa restarts plant
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) restarted its third ethylene plant after a three-month stoppage, after demand improved for the raw material used to make plastics and chemical products.
Production resumed on Thursday, Formosa spokesman Lin Keh-yen (林克彥) said yesterday. The plant was shut on Sept. 3 for a 45-day scheduled maintenance and was extended because the global recession reduced demand.
“Demand has improved, but it might not be enough for us to keep all our ethylene plants running,” Lin said.
Formosa may decide next week on whether to shut its No. 1 ethylene unit, he said.
Yeochun NCC Co, South Korea’s largest ethylene producer, restarted its smallest plant on Tuesday after a 20-day shutdown reduced inventories.
Kaohsiung bids due soon
The Kaohsiung City Government’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission said yesterday that the government would award contracts by the end of the month for construction projects funded by the Executive Yuan to stimulate domestic demand.
Commission chief Hsu Li-ming (許立明) said that all 189 of the public construction projects, financed with a NT$3.78 billion (US$113.4 million) central government budget, would be completed by the end of October next year.
Many of the projects will be completed before the start of the 2009 World Games that start in the city on July 16, Hsu said. They include World Games venues such as an international standard swimming pool, an ice skating rink and a baseball field.
The largest is a series of water remediation projects that will cost about NT$550 million, the commission said.
China to grant 3G licenses
China will issue third-generation mobile phone licenses as early as this month and expects companies to spend 200 billion yuan (US$30 billion) on installing equipment.
“The 3G licenses will be issued either later this year or early next year,” Li Yizhong (李毅中), whose ministry regulates telecoms, said at a news conference.
China’s mobile phone market had grown to 650 million accounts, Li said.
Li confirmed reports by state media that China would use global 3G standards and a China-designed standard.
Global standards WCDMA and CDMA-2000 will be assigned to China Unicom Corp (中國聯通) and China Telecom Ltd (中國電信) respectively, while the homegrown TD-SCDMA will be assigned to China Mobile Corp (中國移動通信), Li said.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.006 to close at NT$33.315.
A total of US$995 million changed hands during the day’s trading.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
AI: Softbank’s stake increases in Nvidia and TSMC reflect Masayoshi Son’s effort to gain a foothold in key nodes of the AI value chain, from chip design to data infrastructure Softbank Group Corp is building up stakes in Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the latest reflection of founder Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware underpinning artificial intelligence (AI). The Japanese technology investor raised its stake in Nvidia to about US$3 billion by the end of March, up from US$1 billion in the prior quarter, regulatory filings showed. It bought about US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million in Oracle Corp, they showed. Softbank’s signature Vision Fund has also monetized almost US$2 billion of public and private assets in the first half of this year,
RSS