Despite the government’s plans to start building three new high-speed railway stations early next year, Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said yesterday that banks would lend no more than NT$382 billion (NT$11.7 billion) to Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵).
Chang, who is leading talks on a refinancing plan on behalf of lenders, said NT$308.3 billion of the loan would be guaranteed by the government.
While the debt-ridden company has put up its tracks, trains, stations and other equipment as collateral, Chang said the lenders wanted THSRC’s founding shareholders to jointly guarantee the remaining NT$73.7 billion.
The five founding shareholders have washed their hands of THSRC debts after previous investments bore no fruit.
Chang said she hoped to settle the refinancing plan before THSRC’s current debt payments become due in November.
On Monday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the construction of stations in Miaoli, Changhua and Yunlin counties would begin in January and be completed by June 2015. This reflects a policy turnaround after THSRC chairman Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) said last week that work on the three stations would have to be postponed to ease the company’s financial burdens.
Chang added that the new loan would be offered at a reduced interest rate, but that the cut would not exceed 1 percentage point.
Meanwhile, two analysts yesterday urged the government to compel THSRC’s shareholders to pay the company’s debts rather than keep pumping money into what they called a “bottomless money pit.”
Jack Lee (李允傑), a member of the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, a local think tank, said the government should push a capital reduction plan for THSRC shareholders to pay off current debts to improve the company’s financial profile.
Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝), deputy secretary-general of the forum, suggested that the government make the shareholders pay for the construction of the three new stations.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS