SEMICONDUCTORS
Siliconware ADRs up 24.13%
American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan-based integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) jumped 24.13 percent on Wall Street overnight in the wake of an acquisition plan proposed by rival Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體). ASE’s ADRs added 5.33 percent amid hopes that such a tie-up will further burnish the suitor’s global standing. ASE ranks as the world’s largest IC packaging and testing services provider and SPIL, the third-largest.
CHINA
US presses for reforms
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pressed the country to continue with economic and financial reforms on Friday in the wake of Beijing’s surprise devaluation of the yuan last week. Lew told Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (汪洋) in a telephone conversation that it is critical the country continue with reforms that are necessary to move toward an economy driven primarily by household consumption rather than exports, which is in both countries’ best interests, according to a US Department of Treasury account of the call.
INTERNET
Google-Twitter deal extended
Google Inc and Twitter Inc on Friday announced their partnership placing tweets in online search results has been extended to desktop. Confirmation came in a tweeted exchange between the two US tech firms. “Hey @twitter, Search party at our place. Meet us on desktop?” Google said, to which Twitter replied: “You got it, @google. We’ll bring the Tweets.” The tie-up could help boost engagement at Twitter.
CASINOS
Ceasars, lenders reach deal
Caesars Entertainment Corp on Friday said that it had a deal with the most-senior lenders to its bankrupt unit, allowing the casino operator to focus on getting support from the last major group holding out on its restructuring plan. Caesars and its main operating subsidiary, the bankrupt Caesars Entertainment Operating Co, got lenders to agree to the reorganization plan to turn the operating unit into a real-estate investment trust from the two most-senior creditor groups, which own about US$12 billion in obligations.
GREECE
Hellas suspension slammed
The government is accusing a Canadian-run mining firm of holding the 2,000 workers in its northern Greek mines “hostage” in a dispute over alleged violations of concession terms. Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold’s Greek subsidiary, Hellas Gold, has said it will suspend most of its employees in the country for up to three months, after the government halted work at a mine in Halkidiki. It said it would have to fire workers if the permits are not reinstated.
SOFTWARE
Vision mulls selling unit
Vision Critical Communications Inc is weighing the sale of its consulting business ahead of a possible initial public offering by the Canadian marketing software firm, according to people familiar with the process. Selling the unit would make Vision Critical a pure-play cloud software company that might prove more attractive to investors if it went public, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
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