The government yesterday said it had approved China Mobile Communications Corp’s (中國移動) application to set up a subsidiary in Taiwan, making it the first Chinese telecoms firm to establish a foothold here.
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone operator by number of users, plans to conduct wholesale trade of electronics materials, it said in the application filed late last year. The subsidiary, however, has yet to complete its company registration process, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Local media have speculated that the Chinese firm plans to use the subsidiary to take a stake in Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳), one of Taiwan’s leading mobile phone operators.
The ministry flatly rejected the possibility, however, saying China Mobile would not be allowed to purchase a stake in Far EasTone, as the telecoms sector is off-limits to Chinese investors.
The ministry said it had not received an application from China Mobile and that if it did, it would reject the proposal.
The government opened up some sectors in its first-phase opening to Chinese investments in June last year, but telecommunications and finance were not on the list.
The ministry said it was mulling opening more sectors for the second phase, but telecommunications would likely remain barred to Chinese funds.
China Mobile said last April it hoped to invest in Far EasTone, aiming to buy a 12 percent stake for about NT$17.8 billion (US$560 million).
Far EasTone was not immediately available to comment yesterday.
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
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
RSS