■ 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.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS