Taiwan, St Vincent sign loans
Taiwan on Wednesday signed a new agreement with St Vincent and the Grenadines to provide US$300,000 in micro-loans to small businesses and farmers.
The document was signed in the Caribbean nation by Taiwanese Ambassador Leo C.J. Lee (李澄然) and Murray Bullock, chairman of the National Development Foundation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Lee said the latest agreement follows the successful implementation of a similar one signed in 2002 that set the total loan amount at US$200,000.
Lee said that providing short and mid-term financing to farmers and small businesses in allied countries helps stimulate industrial growth, increase employment opportunities and reduce poverty.
TSMC buys fixed instruments
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest custom chipmaker, bought NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in 1.5-year, fixed rate callable investment products from Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), the Hsinchu-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
The contract is 100 percent principal-guaranteed upon maturity on March 11, 2011, it said.
FSC to check Nan Shan buyer
The Financial Supervisory Commission said it would examine the funding source of whoever wins the bid for Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) to determine whether the funds come from China, a commission official said on Wednesday.
The official, who declined to be named, said China-invested firms are not allowed to invest in Taiwan’s financial institutions and the rule applies to the sale of American International Group’s (AIG’s) Taiwanese unit, Nan Shan.
The FSC has laid down seven conditions for bidders for Nan Shan, including a commitment to keep the company for at least seven years and to protect the interests of its employees and policy holders.
However, private equity firms are not excluded from the bidding process, the official said.
Two Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers have threatened to take the FSC to court if it allows the Hong Kong-based private equity firm Primus Financial to acquire Nan Shan amid concern that Primus is financed by Chinese capital and has close ties to Chinese leaders.
HK finds banker guilty
A former Morgan Stanley banker was convicted of insider trading yesterday in Hong Kong’s longest criminal trial of its kind.
Du Jun (杜軍), former managing director of the New York-based investment bank, was found guilty on nine counts of insider dealing. He was also convicted of a 10th related charge for helping his wife deal in the shares of CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd (中信資源控股) before the company’s announcement of an acquisition in 2007.
Du, who was taken into custody after the verdict, faces a prison sentence of up to seven years.
The judge will hear mitigation pleadings from Du’s attorney today.
Ju Teng to raise sales caps
Ju Teng International Holdings Ltd (巨騰), a Taiwanese manufacturer of notebook computer casings, said it planned to increase the three-year cap on sales under an agreement with Giant Glory International Ltd (大煜國際) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦).
The sales limit will be raised to HK$2.8 billion (US$361 million) for this year, HK$3.5 billion next year and HK$4.4 billion in 2011, Ju Teng said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing yesterday.
The company will seek approval from its shareholders at a meeting on Sept. 30, it said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the