■ Infotech
Taiwan seeks consolidation
Taiwan's government is calling for consolidation of the nation's flat-panel display makers to compete with global rivals, a Chinese-language newspaper reported citing Vice Premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義). Flat-panel display makers may follow the example of the island's financial institutions, which have been combining into holding companies, the Taipei-based newspaper said, citing Wu. South Korea and Taiwan each takes about 40 percent of the global flat-panel display market, the report said. Consolidation may help Taiwan companies like AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) compete with rivals such as LG.Philips LCD Co, the report said.
■ Free Trade
No Japan-Australia talks
Japan has decided not to pursue free trade talks with Australia because of concerns that its agricultural industry could be harmed, a news report said yesterday. The two countries were expected to agree to launch free trade negotiations when Australian Prime Minister John Howard visits Japan next week. But Tokyo has decided to put those discussions on hold and instead suggested exploring other ways to strengthen bilateral economic ties through mutual investment and deregulation, the Nihon Keizai business daily reported without naming its sources.
■ Broadcasting
Fuji TV buys Nippon stake
Fuji Television Network Inc has offered to buy Livedoor Co's majority stake in radio station Nippon Broadcasting System Inc for ?6,300 per share, Kyodo News said. The ?140 billion (US$1.3 billion) proposal is to settle Fuji's dispute with Internet provider Livedoor over control of Nippon Broadcasting, the report said, citing unnamed sources at Fujisankei Communications Group, which runs the television and radio stations. The offer is almost the same as the amount Livedoor paid to acquire its interest in Nippon Broadcasting.
■ Financial Services
Citigroup earnings rise
Giant Citigroup, the world's largest financial- services company, Friday reported a 3.2 percent rise in first quarter earnings over last year's first quarter, thanks to fewer credit losses and brisk global consumer business. Net earnings were US$5.44 billion, and revenue was US$21.5 billion. The company was considering buying back as much as US$15 billion more in stock. Profits in the global consumer sector were up 9 percent to US$2.8 billion, the company said. Large gains were also reported in the Alternative Investments unit, where profit increased more than ten fold to US$362 million from US$26 million in the same period last year.
■ Media
Newspaper profit fall
The owners the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times both reported falling operating profits Thursday. Dow Jones reported a sharp decline in quarterly earnings as its flagship newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, continued to struggle in a tough advertising climate. Profits at group level fell to US$8.2 million against US$17.8 million in the same period a year earlier. The New York Times Company reported first-quarter profits of US$111 million, up from US$58.4 million a year earlier. The gain, though, was entirely due to the sale of its headquarters in New York City. The firm is due to move into a new building in 2007. Without the gain, profits fell to US$43.2 million.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
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
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
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
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