The Alstom-Siemens Eurotrain consortium has vowed to fight on, despite suffering another setback in its legal action against the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC, 台灣高鐵公司).
The Taiwan High Court yesterday rejected a Eurotrain appeal seeking an injunction preventing its former partner from signing a contract with its Japanese rival, Shinkansen, to build the country's high-speed railway linking Taipei to Kaohsiung.
Following the High Court decision yesterday, the Eurotrain consortium revealed it is contemplating taking the case to the Singapore International Arbitration Center and seeking compensation from the THSRC for what it called a breach of the 1997 accord.
Phai Hua Way (
He also confirmed that Eurotrain is still continuing with "various efforts" to win back the deal, in addition to the legal actions.
The filing of the initial injunction request in the Taipei district court was prompted by the THSRC's announcement on Dec. 28 that it was awarding priority negotiating rights to the Taiwan Shinkansen Consortium (TSC,
Furious at losing the construction bid to the TSC, which is led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Eurotrain requested a court order in mid-January to suspend any further negotiations and prevent the signing of a contract between the THSRC and the TSC.
Eurotrain alleged the dramatic switch was in breach of the 1997 Eurotrain-THSRC agreement, which it claimed had obliged THSRC to sign a contract with it as long as its construction prices were considered reasonable.
However, the High Court maintained the agreement did not give Eurotrain a guarantee to obtain the NT$95 billion contract, nor did it give the European consortium "exclusive" rights to negotiate with the THSRC.
As a result, the court concluded that Eurotrain cannot assume the 1997 accord prohibits the THSRC from signing contracts with any other parties.
The contract for the north-south high speed rail project, with an estimated budget of over NT$400 billion, was hotly contested by two local groups, the THSRC and the Chunghwa High Speed Rail Consortium (中華高鐵聯盟).
In 1998, the THSRC beat Chunghwa to the project based on a plan which offered to build the line with no government funding and proposing the use of the Eurotrain system.
However, the THSRC switched to a partnership with the TSC in December last year, with the two parties signing a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of the core system on June 13.
Semiconductor stocks on Friday took a beating after a grim profit warning from Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc sparked fresh worries about the US’ earnings power as the country is potentially heading for a recession. Despite a broader stock market rally, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index dropped 3.8 percent after Micron, the largest maker of memory semiconductors in the US, flagged that demand was cooling for chips used in computers and smartphones. The index — which is home to US chip giants Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp, as well as Micron — is down 38 percent this year. Historically, semiconductor
WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY: Costco Wholesale said it expected the purchase of the remaining 45 percent stake to add 1 to 1.5 percent to its earnings per share US-based Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday said that it had purchased the remaining 45 percent stake in Costco President Taiwan Inc (台灣好市多) for US$1.05 billion, making the local company a fully-owned unit. “We estimate that the purchase would add about 1 to 1.5 percent to [our] earnings per share,” Costco said in a statement. Costco President Taiwan was established as a joint venture with Kaohsiung-based President Group (大統集團), which held a 45 percent stake. Since the first Costco store opened in Kaohsiung in 1997, 14 outlets have been set up in Taiwan, company data showed. PROFITABLE Three Costco stores in Taiwan — in Taipei’s Neihu
MOBILITY SOLUTIONS: Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its ecosystem through the platform, the Taiwanese firm said India’s Tata Technologies Ltd has become the latest member of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) MIH Open Platform to jointly develop sustainable mobility solutions for customers worldwide, the Taiwanese company said yesterday. It might include embedded and electrical, electric platform development and battery management system solutions, among others, Hon Hai said. Tata Technologies’ participation marks more progress in Hon Hai’s efforts to expand its electric-vehicle (EV) ecosystem through the MIH platform, it said. The open platform has about 2,380 members around the world, with an aim to jointly develop EV ecosystems and shrink the time to market for products. Hon Hai made the
SOARING PROFITS: Semiconductors and shipping have knocked automaking and construction out of the 10 highest paying industries, stock exchange data showed Mobile phone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) posted an average of NT$5.15 million (US$173,249) in annual compensation for non-managerial employees last year, marking the highest among all firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), exchange data showed. That is a 66 percent increase from the company’s average compensation of NT$3.08 million in 2020, as its earnings per share (EPS) expanded from NT$26.01 in 2020 to NT$70.56 last year. That is also three times higher than the average compensation of NT$1.7 million in the nation’s semiconductor industry, the data showed. The increases helped MediaTek advance its ranking from third in 2020, replacing