■ Quanta breaks ground for plant
Quanta Computer Group (廣達) yesterday launched a NT$100 billion (US$3 billion) investment project aimed at building a sixth-generation (6G) flat-panel plant, the company said. The project kicked off after a ground-breaking ceremony for a TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays) of Quanta Display (廣輝), a unit of the Quanta group, was held at the Lungtan high-tech industrial park in Taoyuan County. The 6G plant is slated to begin mass production in the third quarter of next year, with a monthly capacity of 90,000 panels. It will make flat panels measuring 1,500mm by 1,850mm with the investment geared mainly toward the robust growth expected in LCD television sales.
■ Dog food deemed safe
The Council of Agriculture yesterday released its inspection of nine items of dry and canned dog food under the brands Pedigree, Fwu-sow (福壽) and Nature's Recipe (耐吉斯) following the deaths of dozens of dogs due to kidney failure two weeks ago. The deaths were seen as being related to pet food. The council said in a statement that it did not find any discrepancy between the contents of the dog food and what was indicated on the packaging. The council asked the National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital to help investigate the cause of the dogs' deaths. "We cannot determine when the result of the cause of death will come out as this requires case collection and autopsies of dogs' bodies, which may take a lot of time," said a council official who asked to remain anonymous.
■ Chunghwa Telecom awarded
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) has been granted two awards for last year by leading Asian financial publications, the company said in a statement yesterday. The state-run company was chosen "Best ADR, Best Privatization and A Leader in Corporate Governance" by Asset magazine. It also received a "Best Secondary Offering" award from FinanceAsia magazine, the statement said. The company successfully listed its ADR (American depositary receipt) on the New York Stock Exchange in July last year for a total offering of US$1.58 billion.
■ MassMutual buys stake
MassMutual Financial Group, the eighth-largest US life insurer by premiums, said it bought 68 percent of Fuh Hwa Investment Trust Co (復華投信) from Ruentex Group (潤泰集團) to tap the country's mutual-fund market. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed in a statement from MassMutual, which is based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Fuh Hwa, the sixth-largest mutual-fund company in the county, more than doubled its managed assets during the past three years to US$4.1 billion from US$1.6 billion in 2000. MassMutual said it will keep management and key employees. Ruentex is in businesses including textiles and construction.
■ Foreign capital enters bourse
The accumulated amount of foreign capital channeled into the Taiwan Stock Exchange had reached around US$72.6 billion as of the end of last month, in comparison with US$70.4 billion recorded in January, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced yesterday. Foreign investors channeled US$4.1 billion into the Taiwan bourse in January and US$2.2 billion last month, showing a slowdown in foreign investment, according to a SFC official.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar rose against its US counterpart, advancing NT$0.035 to close at NT$33.342 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$766 million.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS