Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) yesterday held a funeral for cofounder Wang Yung-tsai (王永在), that drew many key political and business figures.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) made a statement praising Wang for building the group’s production base in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮), which helped boost the nation’s petrochemical industry, generate tax income and create jobs.
Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) attended the ceremony, as well as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien- ming (柯建銘) and former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Photo courtesy of Formosa Plastics Group
Wang passed away on Nov. 27. at the age of 93. He was a younger brother of Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), the other founder of the group. The younger Wang was dubbed “the grand architect” of the group’s production site in Mailiao — which encompasses the nation’s sixth naphtha cracker, an oil factory, a power plant and a harbor — because he supervised its construction, which started in 1994, according to the group.
“Wang [Yung-tsai] was a person who always quietly finished what had to be done and never asked for fame,” Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會) chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄) said.
HTC Corp (宏達電) chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅), a niece Wang Yung-tsai, said that he devoted all his life to Taiwan and to the group, and his diligence is worth emulating.
Formosa Plastics Group chairman William Wong (王文淵), Wang Yung-tsai’s son, said he learned how to run a company from his father, who used to spend several hours at weekends discussing corporate management with Wong, and sharing his experience restructuring Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠).
Wong said he would live up to his father’s expectations and complete all of the group’s important projects.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be