TELECOMS
FIH India workers arrested
Nearly 200 employees at a factory operated by FIH Mobile Ltd (富智康), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), were arrested on Monday for trying to force their way into the plant in Sriperumbudur Taluk, India, after production was suspended last week. It was the second attempt at a forced entry into the facility after a similar attempt by hundreds of employees on Tuesday last week, according to the Press Trust of India. Three rounds of tripartite talks were held in the presence of Sriperumbudur’s labor commissioner, but they had yet to reach any conclusions, the report said. A fourth round of talks was scheduled to take place today.
INVESTMENT
Delegation to visit India
Taiwan will send a delegation composed of officials from the ministries of economic and foreign affairs and business representatives to an investment summit in India next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. “The business representatives on the delegation are mainly from the electronics, shipbuilding and textile industries,” Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Elliott Charng (常以立) said at a news conference. The delegation is scheduled to visit India from Jan. 10 to Jan. 14, and the investment summit is to be held from Jan. 11 to Jan. 13 in the state of Gujarat, Charng said.
FOUNDATIONS
Chang Gung names chair
Chang Gung Medical Foundation (長庚醫療) yesterday appointed Lee Pao-chu (李寶珠), the third wife of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) cofounder Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), as chairperson, replacing Wang Yung-tsai (王永在), the foundation said in a statement. Known for its operation of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the foundation is one of the group’s nonprofit organizations as well as its investment arm. Wang Yung-tsai, another cofounder of the group and a younger brother of the late Wang Yung-ching, passed away on Nov. 27.
TRAVEL
Richmond plans listing
Richmond International Travel & Tour Co (山富旅遊) yesterday said the company is seeking to list on the Emerging Stock Market, which is a preparatory board for the nation’s two main bourses, the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the GRETAI Securities Market. The company said in a statement that its board had authorized chairman Chico Chen (陳國森) to negotiate terms with potential underwriters and proceed with the planned market debut with the stock exchange regulator. No specific date has been set for the debut.
HOUSEWARES
Xiaomi working on purifier
Xiaomi Corp (小米) is working on a water purifier as it expands its range of home products that can be controlled over the Internet, an early investor in the company said. The company has shown some backers a prototype of the new purifier, said Jenny Lee, managing partner at GGV Capital, an early investor in China’s largest smartphone vendor. Xiaomi spokeswoman Joy Han declined to comment on products that have not been announced. Xiaomi founder and chief executive officer Lei Jun (雷軍) said on Monday that the company would unveil a new “flagship product” next month, without supplying further details. GGV’s Lee did not say if the water purifier would be that product.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
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