■CURRENCY
Yuan revaluation unlikely
China’s deputy central bank governor Hu Xiaolian (胡曉煉) said big moves in major currencies hurt the global economy, signaling the government is unlikely to give into pressure from the US and EU over the strength of the yuan. A nation’s current account balance can be used as a “window” to watch if its exchange rate is at an equilibrium level, People’s Bank of China deputy governor Hu said at a financial conference in Shanghai. China’s current account surplus has been shrinking. The level of an exchange rate is based on market demand and supply, she said. It’s good to have currencies with a certain amount of flexibility, but big fluctuations in major currencies are bad, she said.
■FINANCE
Bank of China to raise funds
Bank of China Ltd (中國銀行) announced on Friday it will raise up to 60 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in a new effort by a major Chinese state-owned lender to replenish capital following last year’s lending boom. Bank of China shareholders can buy 1.1 shares for each share they own “to improve the capital adequacy ratio of the bank,” the bank said in a statement. It said the new shares will be issued on exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Bank of China said its plan requires shareholder approval, but such permission is largely a formality because some 67.5 percent of its shares are owned by Central Huijin Investment Co (中央匯金), an arm of Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund.
■INTEREST RATES
India raises interest rates
India’s central bank on Friday hiked two key short-term interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to tame double-digit inflation. The Reserve Bank of India said the decision was taken before its scheduled July 27 meeting “to contain inflation and anchor inflationary expectations going forward.” Governor D. Subbarao said the repo — the lending rate to commercial banks — has risen to to 5.50 percent with immediate effect, while the reverse repo — the rate the central bank pays to banks for deposits — is now 4.0 percent.
■TRADE
Taiwan, Guangxi linking up
There is great potential for Taiwan and China’s Guangxi region to cooperate in cultural creativity, Taiwan External Trade Development Council chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said on Friday. “Guangxi and Taiwan can cooperate in cultural creativity to develop a vast market,” Wang said at a Guangxi-Taiwan cooperation forum on business and culture. Wang suggested that both sides can strengthen cooperation in areas including LEDs, agriculture, automobile parts and components, automobile electronics and cultural creativity.
■AUTOMOBILES
General Motors to file IPO
General Motors Co plans to file its nearly US$20 billion initial public offering (IPO) in the middle of next month, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday, later than some expected as bankers work to help sort out the automaker’s finances post-bankruptcy. General Motors is also in talks with banks for a revolving credit line worth US$5 billion, sources said. Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley have already agreed to provide US$500 million of credit each, with other banks still to be chosen, a source said. The credit line is expected to be finalized in the next two weeks, about a month before the automaker files for its IPO, a source 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
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
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