Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), one of the main assemblers of Apple Inc’s iPhones, reportedly offered about ￥625 billion (US$5.33 billion) to buy Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp.
The troubled Japanese electronics maker and its creditors are likely to reach a decision by Feb. 4, when Sharp is to release its financial figures for last quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report said that according to Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, Sharp is due to pay ￥510 billion outstanding debt in March.
Sharp is to review another offer from Innovation Network Corp of Japan’s (INCJ) government-backed investment fund, in which the fund was considering a bid that could go up to ￥300 million, the Nikkei Shimbun reported earlier this week.
Because Sharp possesses advanced technologies in making display panels, Japanese officials have expressed concern about allowing the company to sell its display business to foreign corporations.
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motoo Hayashi was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying: “Japan’s technology is leading the rest of the world and we would like to help make it more competitive.”
The INCJ owns a controlling stake in Japan’s another major display maker Japan Display Inc.
The report said officials are considering an option in which the two Japanese panel makers share know-how in next-generation panel technology and mass production.
Seeking to outbid rival offers, Foxconn is reportedly to offer more money to buy Sharp and is willing to bear all of its debts, the report said without naming sources.
Foxconn’s offer is meant to persuade the Japanese panel maker’s creditor to reach a decision based on the finances of the deal instead of political considerations, the report said.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), said that it would not comment on speculations. Sharp also refused to comment on the report.
In related news, Foxconn’s IT solution provider subsidiary and South Korea’s SK Group inked a strategic cooperation agreement in China on Wednesday, with the two firms agreeing to build a smart factory in Chongqing, China.
The first project under the strategic cooperation is to automatize Foxconn’s printer production lines in Chongqing, Foxconn official Chen Yen-jih (陳彥志), who supervises the project, was quoted by the Chinese media as saying.
Chen said one printer production line requires more than 200 workers, adding that after the automation is completed, the company could conserve about 35 percent of its workpower and raise the production value by 25 percent.
Luxury powerhouses including Hermes and Cartier are suffering steeper slumps in China, in a sign that a spending pullback by the country’s wealthy consumers is hitting even the most resilient brands. Sales at the brands in mainland China fell as much as double-digits in August and last month compared to the same period a year ago, two research firms surveyed by Bloomberg that track industry data said. The drop is significant as Hermes International SCA and Cie Financiere Richemont SA’s Cartier had been relatively unaffected in the country as a broader slowdown in luxury consumption took hold in June, the firms’
STOCK, CASH: Quarterly profit-sharing bonuses would supplement payments under the Incentive Pay Plan, offering ‘transparency’ and ‘predictability,’ an executive said Micron Memory Taiwan Co (台灣美光) yesterday unveiled a new profit-sharing program and structural wage hikes as part of its efforts to build a predictable and transparent compensation framework in response to feedback from unions. The memorychip maker, a subsidiary of US-based Micron Technology Inc, announced the major compensation structural overhaul during an online news conference following a milestone agreement with the union representing more than 10,000 workers at its Taichung facility. Under the new framework, quarterly profit-sharing bonuses would supplement payments under the Incentive Pay Plan (IPP), the company said. The IPP formula has also been substantially enhanced, it said. “Profit-sharing mechanisms are common
Micron Memory Taiwan and a union representing workers at its Taichung operations today said they had signed a labor-management agreement covering multiple issues, prompting both sides to withdraw from mediation scheduled for tomorrow. The joint statement did not disclose the terms of the agreement, saying the company and the union would separately communicate details to affected employees in the coming days. Idaho-based Micron, the world's third-largest memory chipmaker, employs about 15,000 people in Taiwan, a key manufacturing base where it produces DRAM and high-bandwidth memory chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Any disruption to Micron's Taiwan operations could affect already strained global
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is suspending some construction work after an accident at one of its building sites in southern Taiwan led to the deaths of four workers. The incident took place on Tuesday during steel structure construction at TSMC’s Fab 22 in Kaohsiung, the company said. Workers fell from a height while performing steel structure hoisting and installation, a report from the Central News Agency said. A cause might be aged bolts, it said, citing a preliminary assessment by the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau. The bureau said that work would only resume after Shang Hao Machinery Co (上昊機械),
RSS