Investment ban to stay for now
The Industrial Development Bureau said it was not planning “at this stage” to lift a ban on investment in ethylene plants in China, denying a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times on May 29.
Taiwan has barred companies from building naphtha crackers in China because they may prompt large fund outflows and affect investment in Taiwan, the bureau said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
The government may lift the ban when it reviews curbs on investments in China next month, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified Ministry of Economic Affairs official.
The bureau is reviewing various aspects of the issue, including the impact on employment, capital flows and markets, and will consider whether to end the ban at an “appropriate time,” it said in the statement, without giving a timeframe.
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the parent of Taiwan’s only publicly traded oil refiner, has said that it plans to produce ethylene in China and is awaiting permission from the Taiwanese and Chinese governments to that end.
LG wants US$693.6 from AUO
South Korea’s LG Display Co is seeking US$693.6 million in damages from Taiwanese rival AU Optronics Corp (友達光電, AUO) in a non-jury trial that began on Tuesday in a US court over four patents for flat-panel video technology.
Lawyers for AU Optronics also claim LG infringed four of its patents and are seeking damages in the hundreds of millions. LG contends that AUO’s infringement was intentional, which may allow Judge Joseph Farnan Jr in Wilmington, Delaware, to triple any damages.
“This is one of the most important patent infringement cases ever to go to trial” in the industry, Gaspare Bono, a lawyer for Seoul-based LG, told Farnan in his opening brief. He said US sales account for about 30 percent of the worldwide liquid-crystal-display market.
LG sued AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) in 2006, alleging infringement of patents for liquid-crystal-display screens used in laptops, computer monitors and TV sets.
Farnan will write an opinion after post-trial briefings before trying the Chi Mei case.
Lucky Cement expanding
Lucky Cement Corp (幸福水泥) plans to build two production lines in its newly acquired second factory in Vietnam, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday.
After building the two production lines, Lucky Cement will have an annual capacity of as much as 8 million tonnes in Vietnam, making it the biggest cement producer in that country, the newspaper said, citing unnamed company executives.
NT dollar continues to firm
The New Taiwan dollar rose to near its strongest level in almost eight months as a visiting trade delegation from China signaled plans for acquisitions.
The currency also gained after foreign investors were net buyers on the stock exchange for a fifth day even as the TAIEX declined.
The NT dollar rose 0.1 percent to 32.505 against the greenback by the 4pm close, Taipei Forex Inc said.
On Tuesday, the currency fell as much as 1.2 percent before ending the day 0.5 percent weaker on suspected central bank intervention to slow the pace of appreciation.
“The recent traction seen in the cross-straits story is structurally positive for the Taiwan dollar,” said Daniel Hui, a Hong Kong-based foreign-exchange strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc. “We see the Taiwan dollar continuing to strengthen in the medium term.”
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