SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE-SPIL move ‘welcomed’
Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) yesterday said the ministry welcomed the news that the nation’s two largest chip packaging and testing services providers are planning to form a joint holding company. Lee said the deal between Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) and Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) reached on Thursday would further strengthen Taiwan’s competitive edge in global chip packaging and testing industry. Shares of ASE rose 10 percent and SPIL shares were up 5.35 percent yesterday in Taipei trading, while their American depositary receipts (ADRs) on Wall Street overnight ended up 18 percent and 9.97 percent respectively.
FOODSTUFFS
Uni-President park done
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food manufacturer, yesterday held a ceremony in Hsinchu County to celebrate the completion of a factory park. The NT$12 billion (US$368.9 million) park, which occupies 17.4 hectares at Hukou Township (湖口), is the largest investment Uni-President has made in Taiwan thus far, Uni-President chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) said at the ceremony. The park will initially focus on the production of ice cubes, bakery products and instant noodles, and the company is planning more investments within the park in the future, he said. The company started construction of the park on Feb. 25, 2014, and has industrial automation, smart manufacturing and a food tracking system in the park.
ELECTRONICS
Foxconn, SMART ink deal
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) has inked an acquisition agreement with SMART Technologies Inc to expand its reach in the education market via SMART’s patented interactive whiteboards, Foxconn said in filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday. Foxconn plans to acquire the Alberta-based company’s 122.42 million outstanding common shares at US$4.5 per share, the filing showed. The US$550.89 million deal is expected to bring a wide range of new technologies, markets and financial resources to enable SMART to accelerate its strategy and position for future growth, SMART said in a statement. The acquisition is to be completed after SMART gains shareholder approval in July.
ELECTRONICS
HTC stops making Nexus 9
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said that it has stopped manufacturing Google’s Nexus 9 tablet due to the dissipation of the product cycle. The remark came after local media reported that HTC has suspended the product line for Nexus 9 and is prepared to make next-generation Nexus products, which include one smartphone and one tablet. However, HTC declined to confirm if there is new cooperation on Nexus between Google and the firm.
LIGHTING
Ledlink dividend approved
Ledlink Optics Inc (雷笛克), which designs and manufactures optics for solid-state lighting (SSL) companies, yesterday said shareholders approved the company’s plan to distribute a NT$1.6 dividend per share, based on last year’s net income of NT$122 million, or earnings of NT$2.6 per share. The NT$1.6 dividend includes a cash dividend of NT$1.1 and a stock dividend of 5 percent. The company told shareholders that profit outlook for the second quarter will be better than the first quarter, when it reported a net income of NT$22.93 million or NT$0.49 per share, citing strong order visibility.
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