STEELMAKERS
CSC to boost Formosa stake
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said it is to purchase an additional 329 million worth of new common shares in a steel manufacturing venture with Vietnam-based Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業) for US$329 million. If the transaction goes ahead, China Steel will have a 25 percent share of Formosa Group (台塑集團). The board has approved the investments to take place next month to boost its share of the Vietnam venture from 5 percent to 25 percent. The investment will ensure sufficient supply of semi-finished raw materials in the long run, Kaohsiung-based China Steel said.
CHIP TESTERS
ChipMOS plan approved
Memory chip tester and packager ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技) yesterday said shareholders have approved a plan to issue about 299 million new common shares in a private placement for China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Inc (清華紫光) subscription. Tsinghua Unigroup is to hold a 25 percent stake in ChipMOS upon the completion of the transaction. Shareholders also approved a plan for the Chinese company to occupy a seat on the company’s 11-member board.
POLITICS
William Tseng eyes new post
Outgoing Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) yesterday said he is eyeing a seat on the legislature’s Economics Committee after he is sworn in as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large on Monday. Tseng said that he respects the KMT’s caucus rules, which favor seniority over professional background when allocating committee seats. He said that even without a seat on the legislature’s Finance Committee, he would still have the ability to propose amendments and oversee government officials. Former KMT legislator-at-large Tseng Chu-wei (曾巨威), a retired National Chengchi University professor of finance, had been denied a seat on the Finance Committee, Tseng said.
ELECTRONICS
Terry Gou to visit Sharp
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is expected to visit the headquarters of Japan-based Sharp Corp for last-ditch talks to acquire the financially troubled electronics firm, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The report said Gou would go to Sharp headquarters in the Kansai region by the end of this week to talk to ranking executives of the Japanese firm over a possible acquisition. Gou met with two officials from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo on Tuesday, expressing Hon Hai’s willingness to provide a ¥6,250 billion (US$52.52 billion) bailout package for Sharp, the report said.
EMPLOYMENT
Office workers eye change
Eighty-six percent of office workers want to change their jobs after the Lunar New Year holiday, the highest number in the past decade, a 1111 Job Bank survey showed. Among those who want a new job, 4 percent have landed new positions, while 81.6 percent have started looking, the survey showed. It said 13.3 percent indicated they would stay in their current positions until they find a better one. Fifty-six percent said they would stay with their current employers if their salaries were raised by about NT$12,000 per month, the survey showed.
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
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
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
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