■ Jelly cup ban considered
The Consumers' Foundation yesterday called for a ban on jelly mini-cup sweets which have caused the deaths of a dozen children in several countries. The foundation made the call after a local newspaper reported that a girl in Shanghai died after choking on a mini-cup sweet produced by the Shanghai branch of Sheng Hsiang Chen Foods Co (盛香珍食品), the Taiwanese inventor of the candies. "We have asked authorities to order mini-cup sweets removed from shelves and call on consumers not to buy them," the foundation's secretary general Terry Huang (黃怡騰) said in a radio interview. "Sheng Hsiang Chen Foods has enlarged the mini-cups and changed the packaging of the sweets, but they still pose a hazard to children," he said.
■ Kinsus to acquire Flexium
Flexium Interconnect Inc (台郡), a Taiwan maker of printed circuit boards, said its board approved a plan for the company to be acquired by Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp (景碩) in a stock swap. Shareholders will receive one share of Kinsus for every 2.4 Flexium shares they hold, Flexium said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange today. Kinsus, which makes electronics components, said in a separate statement that its board also approved the acquisition. Kaohsiung, Taiwan-based Flexium has capital of NT$1.1 billion (US$34.9 million), compared with NT$2.22 billion of Kinsus, according to the Flexium filing.
■ More research subsidized
The Ministry of Economic Affairs approved 20 research projects Friday proposed by local small- and medium-sized businesses, officials said. The ministry will subsidize a total of NT$45 million (US$1.43 million) for these projects as an incentive to encourage small- and medium-sized businesses to enhance their research and development capabilities, the officials said. At the same time, the businesses will funnel another NT$82 million into the projects, they said.
■ China Air gets new schedule
China Airlines (華航), the nation's largest air carrier, will implement a new summer schedule starting tomorrow with new aircraft added and flights increased, the company said in a statement. New services include inaugurating the Taipei-Chiang Mai route, and increasing flight frequencies to Seattle, Houston, Frankfurt, Seoul and Honolulu. Meanwhile, new or larger aircraft will be used on Amsterdam, Nagoya and Fukuoka services due to the introduction of B747-400 and A330-300 aircraft. After taking delivery of one new freighter in January and one passenger jet this month, the carrier plans to introduce another eight new aircraft this year.
■ Steel plant to be built
Formosa Heavy Industries Corp (台塑重工) and China Steel Corp (中鋼) will cooperate in building a NT$120 billion (US$3.8 billion) steel plant in central Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing unidentified company officials. China Steel, Taiwan's largest steel maker, will provide technical support for the Formosa plant and invest NT$6 billion, or 5 percent, in the project, the Taipei-based paper said, citing officials from both companies.
■ NT dollar trades lower
The New Taiwan dollar traded lower against its US counterpart, as foreign investors continued offloading of Taiwan stocks. The NT dollar fell NT$0.036 to close at NT$31.50 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$668 million, down from US$966 million the previous day.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS