Moody’s Investors Service yesterday confirmed it was shutting down its operations in Taiwan and Indonesia in response to the global economic downturn, while rival Fitch Ratings said it would continue to grow its business in these two markets.
In an e-mailed statement to the Taipei Times yesterday, Moody’s, the world’s second-largest credit-rating firm, said it would focus on other markets in the Asia-Pacific region following a review of its business strategy.
“After a strategic review of our business, we concluded that we can most efficiently serve the Asian markets from our regional hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo,” the New York-based Moody’s said in the statement.
“We also plan to maintain our strong affiliate relationships in Korea, China and India,” the firm said.
Both Taiwan and Indonesia are among markets where Moody’s has decided to pull out in late June to cope with adverse credit market conditions. The ratings agency last week also decided to close its South Bend office in Indiana, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
JOB CUTS
Moody’s, which began its operations in Taiwan in 2003, said the closings would eliminate between 3 percent and 4 percent of its total work force, or a cut of 120 to 170 jobs in the three offices, the filing showed.
Eleanor Sheung, a communications strategist at Moody’s Asia Pacific Ltd based in Hong Kong, yesterday declined to comment on whether the company’s withdrawal from Taiwan was prompted by price competition and reduced business scale in a market where it is competing fiercely with Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday that Moody’s was in talks with the Financial Supervisory Commission, hoping to maintain the validity of its credit ratings on local clients such as Taiwan Power Co (台電)
The commission has not yet made a response to Moody’s withdrawal from Taiwan market and whether it will allow Moody’s local clients to continue using the firm’s credit ratings.
FITCH RATINGS
Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings said it remained committed to markets in Taiwan and Indonesia, despite current adverse market conditions.
“As clearly demonstrated through its on the ground presence and increasing visibility, Fitch Ratings remains committed to enhancing its coverage with a view to serving investors and market participants in Indonesia and Taiwan, and indeed across the region,” Evan Hale, managing director of Fitch Asia-Pacific, said in a statement.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”