GREEN’ ENERGY
Fubon eyes solar investment
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday said it plans to invest NT$300 million (US$9.51 million) in a solar power joint venture through Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. The solar power venture will invest in solar power plants in Taiwan and Fubon Life Insurance will hold 30 percent of the venture, Fubon Financial said. Last year, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) — through Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) — announced that it would invest NT$1.58 billion in a solar venture along with solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光能源) to build power plants in Taiwan.
FOOD
Pre-holiday fruit prices rise
In the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, meat prices have remained relatively stable while prices for fruit have seen the biggest increase compared with last year, the Council of Agriculture said on Thursday. On average, fruit was being sold at NT$72.1 per kilogram at the Taipei Fruit and Vegetable Market on Thursday, 29.2 percent more than the NT$55.8 recorded during the same period last year, the council said. Indian jujubes, in particular, were 94.9 percent more expensive than last year and tangerines 30 percent higher, the council said. Vegetable prices were 45.8 percent cheaper than last year, while seafood was 9.4 percent more expensive, it said.
APPS
Public safety app launched
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday launched a mobile app in collaboration with the National Police Agency that enables users to report incidents and send the information on their locations to the police. Users can also use the app to check real-time traffic information. Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) said the work with the police agency aims to help the government provide a safer environment for the public. Shih said the app will be preinstalled in all of the ZenFones in the Taiwanese market.
FINANCING
Chang Wah secures loan
Chip packaging and testing materials supplier Chang Wah Electromaterials Inc (長華電材) and its semiconductor materials subsidiary, Chang Wah Technology Co Ltd (長華科技), yesterday secured a NT$6.85 billion syndicated loan from six domestic banks led by the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行). Chang Wah Electromaterials said it plans to use NT$2.85 billion of the new loan to repay old bank loans and strengthen its working capital, while Chang Wah Technology said it would use NT$4 billion to fund its acquisition of SH Asia Pacific Pte Ltd of Singapore. In November last year, the two companies announced the would acquire SH Asia Pacific Pte Ltd for ¥15 billion (US$141 million), with Chang Wah Electromaterials taking a 30 percent stake and Chang Wah Technology 70 percent.
TAITRA
Appointments approved
The board of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday approved the appointment of New Southbound Policy Office Director James Huang (黃志芳) as its new chairman, replacing Francis Liang (梁國新), who took over as the nation’s representative to Singapore last month. It also approved the appointments of Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) and Kuo Lin-wu (郭臨伍) as vice chairmen of the council, while naming Walter Yeh (葉明水) as executive president, the council said in a statement.
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Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
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MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung