■INSURANCE
Ministry mulls new tax
The Ministry of Finance is expected to promulgate a new measure to tax proceeds from investment-linked insurance products late this month or early next month to pave the way for its implementation next year, an official said yesterday. The official, who declined to be named, said the measure’s impact on policy holders would be minor. Under the measure, earnings from unit-linked insurance products would be treated as taxable income. Gains of up to NT$270,000 would be tax-exempt under the existing exemption for interest income, but amounts beyond that would be subject to taxation. In addition, proceeds from policies in which the policy holder and beneficiary were not the same person would be subject to a 10 percent gift tax on benefits of more than NT$2.2 million (US$67,900).
■ELECTRONICS
ASE may lift expenditures
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing company, may raise its capital expenditure to US$400 million next year because of demand from clients such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported, without saying where it got its information. Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), the second-biggest chip packager and tester, will probably increase its spending to US$250 million, up from NT$4 billion-NT$5 billion this year, to meet the strong demand of upstream customers, the newspaper reported.
■COMPUTERS
Asustsek shipments growing
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) expects to ship more than 15 million laptop units next year because of demand from Microsoft Corp operating system Windows 7, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported, citing chief executive Jerry Shen (沈振來). The company aims for its notebook shipments to grow faster than the overall industry rate of 30 percent next year, Shen said on the sidelines of a Windows 7 launch event. Asustek said last month that it expected to ship about 11 million to 13 million laptop units this year, up from 5.8 million last year.
■NUCLEAR POWER
Japan makes small reactors
Japan’s major nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries, a report said yesterday. Toshiba Corp is developing an ultra-compact reactor with an output of about 10,000 kilowatts and has started procedures for approval in the US, the Nikkei business daily said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd has separately completed the concept design for a pressurized-water reactor with a power output of about 350,000 kilowatts, the Nikkei said. Hitachi Ltd also aims to develop a boiling-water reactor with a capacity of 400,000 kilowatts to 600,000 kilowatts for use in Southeast Asia and other countries, it said.
■BANKING
Failed US banks pass 100
The number of failed regional US banks exceeded 100 on Friday, after authorities announced the collapse of seven more financial institutions around the country. A total of 106 regional banks failed in the US this year, a figure not seen since 1992. Partners Bank of Naples, Florida, which had capital of US$65.5 million, became the 100th bank shut down in the country since the beginning of the year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced.
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