Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday said that he did not own any shares of Chinese firm Century Technology Shenzhen Co (深超光電), rejecting allegations that he has taken advantage of local display maker Innolux Corp (群創).
Gou is seeking the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination for next year’s presidential election.
Gou’s comments came after the Chinese-language Mirror Media weekly said that Innolux would begin collaborating with a Chinese flat panel maker to supply panels to Huawei Technologies Co (華為) from its Chinese fab over the next three years, citing a closed-door meeting hosted by Hon Hai in March.
The arrangements were made at the cost of Innolux’s interests, as Huawei is to become an indirect client of Innolux, implying thinner profits for the Taiwanese company, the magazine said.
Major local media outlets have speculated that the collaboration would instead take place between Innolux and Century Technology.
Gou on Monday dismissed allegations of any links between himself and Century Technology, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported.
However, Gou’s statements contradicted images published yesterday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily, which show Gou at an internal company conference at Century Technology’s offices five years ago.
After the publication of the images, Gou’s campaign office said that he does not own any Century Technology shares, adding that shareholder information published by Baidu Inc’s (百度) search engine is false.
The Chinese search engine showed that Century Technology was established through cooperation between the Shenzhen City Government and Hon Hai, and that Century Technology’s management team is composed entirely of Taiwanese Hon Hai officials.
However, despite the claims, Gou yesterday said in a speech that he would look to expand cooperation with China if he is elected president by making peace with Beijing, adding: “Chinese should not fight with Chinese.”
Taiwanese companies have high stakes in China and should try to take part in the country’s industrial transformation, he said.
The reports have sent shares of Innolux plunging 15.54 percent to NT$7.34 yesterday since Tuesday last week.
In an open letter addressed to shareholders published by the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday, Innolux said that it operates independently, rejecting accusations of transferring orders and technologies to other panel manufacturers in China.
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