State-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) is considering investing in shale gas extraction and a petrochemical plant in the US, company chairman Derek Chen (陳金德) said yesterday.
Chen is scheduled to depart for the US on June 14 on a fact-finding visit.
Chen said that CPC and its affiliates would like to invest about US$10 billion in the US, with the aim of adopting more advanced technology to produce higher-quality ethylene at a lower cost.
He said the first step is next month’s visit to the US, when he will be accompanied by Minister Without Portfolio Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), to explore the possibility of investing in natural gas in Louisiana.
One issue of concern is whether petrochemical products from a CPC downstream factory would have a strong market in the US, Chen said, noting that since US President Donald Trump took office in January, he has made US manufacturing a top priority.
If the project gets off the ground, Chen forecast a September start date.
However, he added that state-owned companies like CPC are subject to certain regulations that could slow overseas investment efforts and hamper quick adaptation to changing markets.
Separately, CPC yesterday said it is to raise its domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter, starting today. It is to be the company’s second price hike in two weeks.
After the increase, prices at CPC gas stations nationwide are to be NT$21.7 per liter for super diesel, NT$24.1 per liter for 92-octane unleaded, NT$25.6 per liter for 95-octane unleaded and NT$27.6 per liter for 98-octane unleaded, the company said.
The prices reflect a rise last week in international crude oil prices after OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Thursday agreed to extend oil output cuts for another nine months until March next year.
A drop in US oil stocks for the seventh straight week also pushed crude prices higher, CPC said.
CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula made up of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.
After the increase in international crude prices, CPC’s average price of crude oil was calculated at US$52.44 per barrel this week, up from US$51.28 per barrel last week, it said.
Privately owned refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) on Saturday announced similar price increases for this week.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
RSS