ELECTRONICS
US to consider AUO claims
A US trade agency said it would consider AU Optronics Corp’s (AUO, 友達光電) patent-infringement claims against Samsung Electronics Co over LCDs used in televisions, computer monitors and mobile phones. Notice of the investigation was posted on the Washington-based agency’s Web site on Thursday. AUO, Taiwan’s second-biggest maker of LCDs, is seeking to block products including Samsung’s 46-inch LCD television, Captivate smartphone and 10.1-inch laptop screen.
ENVIRONMENT
Jiajing, KingHao sign deal
Jiajing Environmental Protection Equipment Co (佳境環保設備) has signed a deal with China’s Hubei KingHao Technology Co (湖北建浩科技) to handle the wastewater of a Chinese industrial park, a move it said represents a milestone for Taiwan’s efforts to tap into China’s vast wastewater treatment market. Chairman Nelson Cheng (鄭元良) said on Friday the reduction or elimination of industrial wastewater discharge will be a future goal for Taiwan’s industries.
CHINA
Official warns of risky loans
The country must act to bring under control “relatively high risks” from some local government borrowings, said Jia Kang (賈康), head of the finance ministry’s Institute of Fiscal Science. Risks that under certain circumstances might “trigger crisis in some regions” and “hurt the government’s credibility” may be found in some local projects funded with debt, Jia told a symposium at Peking University yesterday. Total borrowings by local governments remain “within a safe zone,” Jia said.
INTERNET
Winklevosses’ suit dropped
Facebook Inc won a dismissal of a second lawsuit by the US Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who have sought to increase their US$65 million settlement with the social media company and its founder Mark Zuckerberg. US District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Boston dismissed the case on Friday, one month after the Winklevosses abandoned a possible appeal to the US Supreme Court of an April ruling against them by a California federal appeals court.
INTERNET
Struggling E*Trade eyes sale
E*Trade Financial Corp, the online brokerage whose shares have fallen 94 percent in four years, responded to its biggest owner’s request to address those “catastrophic losses” by hiring Morgan Stanley to explore a sale of the company. Citadel LLC, Ken Griffin’s Chicago-based hedge fund, asked E*Trade on Wednesday to arrange a meeting for shareholders to vote on items such as hiring an investment banker and removing two directors. While New York-based E*Trade rejected a meeting, the board decided to retain Morgan Stanley for advice on “strategic alternatives,” according to a statement on Friday.
CANADA
Inflation eases to 3.1%
The annual inflation rate eased to 3.1 percent last month from May, but high food and gas prices kept it at a relatively fast pace, the federal government said on Friday. The year-on-year rate dropped from 3.7 percent in May, Statistics Canada said in a statement. Food prices continued to rise in the period — prices were up 4.8 percent in the 12 months to last month, compared with just 4.2 percent in the year to May. Excluding the often-volatile food and energy components, the core consumer price index rose 1.4 percent last month, it
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure