■ Allied Material OKs new plant
The board of Allied Material Technology Corp (展茂光電), a subsidiary of Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), met yesterday to approve the development of a sixth-generation color-filter plant at Luchu Industrial Park (路竹科學園區) in Kaohsiung County.
Allied Material, which makes color filters for liquid crystal display units, plans to invest at least NT$10 billion in the new project, the company said.
Construction of the new plant is expected to start this September. The plant plans to install new manufacturing facilities in the fourth quarter next year and start production in 2006, it added.
■ Lin Yi-fu heads APEC mission
Minister Without Portfolio Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) will head a delegation to attend a ministerial-level meeting on the mining and metallurgical industry sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, sources said.
The APEC ministerial meeting will be held in Antofagasta, a city near the Chilean capital of Santiago and the center of the local bronze mining industry, from today until Thursday.
It will mark the first time that the 21-member APEC has ever organized a ministerial conference on the development of the mining industry and metallurgical trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs officials said.
All of APEC's 21 member economies will send delegations to attend the conference, the officials said. Lin is the former economics minister.
Members of the Taiwan delegation will include Chu Ming-chao (朱明昭), director of the ministry's Department of Mines, and Chieh Wen-chi (介文汲), deputy director of the Department of International Organizations within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting's agenda will focus on strengthening cooperation among APEC members in developing new mining technologies, new materials and a viable framework for stable and convenient global metal trade.
■ New chairman for Lone Star
Lone Star Asia-Pacific Ltd, the biggest investor in distressed Asian debt, announced yesterday that it will appoint Liang Chang (張樑) as chairman of its Taipei office, the US company said in a statement.
Chang, currently chairman of Jardine Matheson Group Taiwan, will focus on origination activities for Lone Star Funds in Taiwan, the statement said.
Lone Star Asia-Pacific is part of the Lone Star Group of funds run by a Texas-based investment company. The company is a leading private investment and asset management company in Taiwan, with over NT$130 billion of assets throughout the nation.
■ Mega and Hua Nan square off
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控) may vie to take over rival First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) to expand market share, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing a Mega Financial proposal to its shareholders.
Mega Financial said it seeks to take over a state-controlled financial holding company with strength in consumer financing in Taiwan and a Hong Kong-based bank this year, the report said.
Hua Nan Financial said it was interested in taking over First Financial, the report said, citing Hua Nan Financial chairman Lin Ming-cheng (林明成).
■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned lower against its US counterpart as comments from a US Federal Reserve official bolstered the view that interest rates could rise sharply this year.
The local currency closed down NT$0.095 to NT$33.700 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$542 million.
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An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
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