TAX REFUND
99 Index performs well
The Taiwan Employment Creation 99 Index has outperformed the benchmark TAIEX after it was launched on Dec. 30, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said yesterday. The employment creation index, which was jointly compiled by the stock exchange and the Research Affiliates LLC, has generated a return of 3.6 percent since its debut, higher than a 0.62 percent return posted by the TAIEX, the exchange said. The newly unveiled index’s return also surpassed a 0.98 percent return generated by the Taiwan 50 Index, which was compiled by the TWSE and the FTSE Group and includes 50 of the largest capitalized blue chip stocks traded in Taiwan, it said.
CHEMICALS
DuPont starts tender
US chemical giant DuPont on Friday started its public tender offer to acquire Danish food ingredient and enzyme company Danisco, a deal worth US$6.3 billion, both companies said. The friendly takeover was announced last week, with Danisco’s board unanimously recommending its shareholders accept DuPont’s offer of 665 kroner (US$121.1) a share — a 25.0 percent jump on the last closing price — the US company said in a statement on Friday. DuPont said its offer would end on Feb. 22 at 2200 GMT. DuPont will withdraw Danisco from the Copenhagen stock exchange after the purchase goes through.
IRELAND
Finance bill unveiled
The Irish government on Friday unveiled the finance bill designed to finally cement the 85 billion euro (US$114 billion) bailout package agreed with the EU and the IMF in November. The bill, to be studied by parliament over the coming weeks, puts into place a series of measures unveiled by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in his budget last month. Prime Minister Brian Cowen on Thursday called an early general election for March 11 and stressed that passing the bill through parliament beforehand was his chief concern. Lenihan said the bill would implement a tax system that supported Ireland’s potential to grow its way out of the financial crisis.
MINING
Vale SA denies speculation
Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore exporter, denied speculation it’s in talks to buy a fertilizer producer, saying the company is focused on organic growth. Speculation that Vale is in negotiations or presented an offer for the company, which it didn’t identify, are “totally unfounded,” Rio de Janeiro-based Vale said on Friday in a regulatory filing. Vale, together with BHP Billiton Ltd, are the likeliest candidates to bid for Cargill Inc’s 64 percent holding in fertilizer producer Mosaic Co, Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail reported on Thursday, without saying where it got the information.
AVIATION
BA-Iberia merger complete
A multibillion-euro merger between British Airways (BA) and Iberia of Spain, creating Europe’s second biggest airline, was completed on Friday, but immediately hit turbulence as BA staff voted to strike. “The merger has now become effective,” BA and Iberia in a statement said as shares in the new company, International Airline Group (IAG), prepare to trade for the first time tomorrow. British union Unite later said that BA cabin crew had voted in favor of fresh strikes in a long-running dispute with the airline over pay and other perks, although it did not mention any dates. The vote was part of a dispute that prompted 22 days of strike action last year.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to