■ Three investments approved
The Investment Commission, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said yesterday it approved three applications for China-bound investment worth US$51.50 million. The approved investment includes US$29.50 million Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) will spend on a unit in Kunshan in the eastern province of Jiangsu and US$16 million for Quanta Computer Inc's (廣達電腦) Shanghai unit, the commission said. Between Feb. 16 and March 17, the commission approved a total of 247 China-bound investment applications worth a combined US$358 million.
■ Yulon to set up parts venture
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆), the nation's largest automaker by market value, plans to set up an electronic parts venture and may invite some computer makers to be investors. Yulon plans to make components for vehicles in Taiwan, company Vice President Charles Shiau (蕭明輝) said today. "The venture is at the early planning stage, so details are still very sketchy," Shiau said. The project, aimed at tapping the world's NT$900 billion (US$28 billion) auto-electronics market, may involve an investment of about NT$10 billion, according to Chen Kuo-rong (陳國榮), the carmaker's president.
■ NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar dropped for a fourth day on concern the central bank will sell it to protect exporters as the South Korean won and Japanese yen weakened. The NT dollar slid NT$0.103 to close at NT$31.776, the lowest close since Feb. 1. Turnover was US$897 million.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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