Ex-TSMC boss gets jail time
A former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) manager was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his part in an insider-trading scheme involving Primary Global Research LLC.
Manosha Karunatilaka, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, who worked as an account manager for TSMC, pleaded guilty in May to accepting about US$35,000 to pass material, nonpublic information about the company’s orders while also working as a consultant for Primary Global.
His lawyer, Brad Bailey, had asked US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan for a one-year sentence, with six months in prison and six months of home confinement.
“I want to say how sorry I am for my conduct,” Karunatilaka, 37, told Rakoff.
An analyst at an unidentified New York-based hedge fund, which used Primary Global’s services, spoke to Karunatilaka frequently from 2008 to last year, prosecutors said in court papers. In May 2009, acting on a recommendation from Karunatilaka to bet that TSMC shares would fall, the fund made a profit of about US$1.7 million, the US said.
Auto center sees successes
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center (華創車電), an automaker initiated by the government, had successfully generated an output value of NT$53.35 billion (US$1.8 billion) and created more than 4,000 jobs since its inception in 2005.
The center has attracted as many as 195 partnering companies and successfully produced the first Taiwanese automobile brand, Luxgen. Luxgen’s multi-purpose vehicle model was developed in August 2008; its sports and utility vehicle model was developed in December 2008; and its sedan model was introduced in August last year, the statement said.
The center was established in December 2005 by Yulon Group (裕隆集團) and other stakeholders from the tech industry including HTC Corp (宏達電) and E-ton Solar Tech Co (益通光能).
With the inception of the center, the government aims to combine Taiwan’s technology know-how into automobile production and allow Taiwanese firms to have the capability of producing a car.
Chinatrust plans bond issue
Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) plans to issue NT$12.9 billion of unsecured subordinated bonds in two tranches on Sept. 27, parent Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The lender plans to issue NT$8.9 billion of seven-year debt at a coupon of 1.8 percent per annum, the statement said.
The coupon rate of NT$4 billion of 10-year bonds will be 1.95 percent for the first three years and 0.55 percentage point over the benchmark rate for the remaining years, it said.
The proceeds will be used to redeem 2006-2 financial debentures before their maturity, the company said.
NT dollar ends losing run
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.051 to close at NT$29.584, snapping a nine-day decline on a robust rebound in the local stock market, dealers said.
The central bank was believed to have intervened in late trade to help the greenback recoup part of its early losses, in a bid to protect Taiwan’s exports, dealers said.
A rebound by the South Korean won against the US dollar on eased concerns over the debt problems in Europe added downward pressure on the greenback in the local foreign exchange market, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$928 million during the trading session.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last