China is to halt the implementation of a coding system to identify counterfeit drugs that is developed and operated by Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd (阿里健康), a company controlled by billionaire Jack Ma’s (馬雲) Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴).
China Food & Drug Administration (FDA) suspended the new electronic coding system as it made draft amendments to existing rules, allowing the use of other methods to build a system that tracks medicines back to their origin, the administration said in a statement published on Saturday.
The company “saw the administration’s statement, but has not yet received notice from China FDA to stop providing technical operation and maintenance services to the supervision network,” Alibaba Health spokeswoman Zhang Lei (張磊) said in a text message yesterday.
While the company, in which Alibaba Group bought a controlling stake in 2014, does not earn any revenue from the Chinese authority at present, the coding system’s earnings potential has been an influential factor for its shares listed in Hong Kong.
The stock plunged 20 percent on Jan. 28 after local media reported China’s drug regulator planned to withdraw the company’s operating rights for the coding system and rebounded 16 percent a day later after Alibaba Health said it had not received any notification from the authority to cease operations.
Alibaba Health’s unit Citic 21CN provides technical and maintenance services to the network, including the identification, authentication and tracking of drugs, it said on Feb. 5.
The company said that although the system has always been owned by the government, the services it provides help to identify counterfeits and resold drugs and deter illegal companies.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS