PHARMACEUTICALS
Medigen inks China deal
Drugmaker Medigen Biotechnology Corp (基亞生技) yesterday said it has inked a letter of intent with China’s Jian Su Heng Rui Medicine Co (江蘇恒瑞醫藥) to license its new OBP-301 liver cancer medicine for the company to sell in China. The drug was codeveloped with Japan’s Oncolys Biopharma Inc and is under clinical trials in Taiwan and South Korea, Medigen said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Medigen and Oncolys have filed patents for the drug in the US, EU, Japan, China and South Korea, the firm said.
CHIPMAKERS
ChipMOS signs Solar pact
Chip packager and tester ChipMOS Technologies Inc (ChipMOS, 南茂) yesterday signed an agreement with optical thin-film manufacturer Solar Applied Materials Technology Co (Solar, 光洋科) to ensure that cooperation between them remains unaffected, despite negative publicity involving Solar. Solar was discovered by the Taipei Exchange to have falsely reported its financial status over the past few years and a Solar employee last month was found to have stolen 450kg of gold from the company. ChipMOS chairman SJ Cheng (鄭世杰) said Solar has access to the precious metals needed in the semiconductor industry and he hopes the agreement ensures the supply of the metals from Solar. Under the agreement, ChipMOS is to purchase the required materials for Solar so the latter can refine the recycled precious metals for it, while Solar is to supply certain precious metal compounds to ChipMOS, the firms said. The cooperation model is applicable to the companies’ collaboration in the Chinese market, Cheng said.
BANKING
Interest rates edge down
The interest rates of major state-run lenders averaged 1.56 percent at the end of last month, down 0.027 percentage points from March, as banks lowered borrowing costs to reflect the central bank’s latest rate cut, the central bank said yesterday. Officials arrived at the figures based on data gathered from Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行). Average borrowing costs stood at 1.685 percent, excluding government loans, down 0.018 percentage points from the level in March, the central bank said.
ENERGY
CSBC touts wind-farm plan
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday outlined plans to become an internationally certified operation and maintenance solution provider for offshore wind farms, as prospects continue to dim for its core ship building business amid an oversupply of ocean freight capacity and falling rates for international trade contracts. The company is planning to leverage its expertise in maritime engineering and construction to tap into the market for wind energy, and has secured a contract to transport and install 30 wind turbines at the Fuhai Wind Farm (福海風場) off the coast of Changhwa County, it said.
TELECOMS
Court rules in FET’s favor
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (FET, 遠傳電信) yesterday won a lawsuit over prolong bandwidth disputes, with the Taipei District Court ruling that rival Taiwan Mobile Co Ltd (台灣大哥大) must return a bandwidth dubbed C4 to the National Communications Commission immediately.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last