■ Union plans to block sale
Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信) labor union plans to take legal action in this country and the US to halt the proposed overseas sale of as much as US$3.4 billion of shares in the telephone company. "We will file a petition to the Taipei High Administrative Court Wednesday to ask for a suspension before the issue of whether the sale is unconstitutional is resolved," Simon Chang (張緒中), president of Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union (中華電信工會), said yesterday. The union's move comes after the Council of Grand Justices last Friday rejected a request for a ruling on whether the proposed sale is unconstitutional.
■ Infineon mulls Nanya merger
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, is considering combining its unprofitable memory-chip division with the chip business of another company, Sueddeutsche Zeitung said, citing unidentified members of the supervisory board. The company is in exploratory talks with potential partners, the German daily reported. One of the favored partners would be Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), with whom Infineon already runs a joint venture, Sueddeutsche Zeitung said. Supervisory board member Dieter Scheitor told the newspaper that a split from the memory unit looks "increasingly likely," although nothing final has been decided yet. "Strong forces" within Infineon favor an initial public offering, a sale or a combination with another company, he said. ■ Philips moves base to Shanghai Royal Philips Electronics NV last month moved its semiconductor division's Asian headquarters to Shanghai from Taipei, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing an unidentified Philips official. Philips restructured its Asian semiconductor division last month, separating it into two divisions: the Greater China region, with its headquarters in Shanghai; and the rest of Asia, the paper said. The Taiwan division will remain staffed and operational, the paper said, citing the official. ■ Fubon buys rival's shares Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) last week bought 23 million shares in rival Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) through its brokerage arm in the open market, a Chinese-language business daily said, without saying where it obtained the information. Taiwan Business Bank has 4.29 billion outstanding shares in total, according to information released by the lender. The equivalent of 23 million shares is about a 0.5 percent stake. Taiwan Business Bank, a lender 44 percent owned by the government, said July 27 it has started inviting bids from local and foreign investors to buy a stake. It has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc as its financial adviser to evaluate and propose a merger plan. ■ Cogeneration plant planned Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$63 million) to build a cogeneration energy plant in this country next year, a Chinese-language newspaper said, without saying where it obtained the information. The plant may provide electricity to the group's affiliated companies and others in the industrial zone in Linyuan (林園), the paper said. Cogeneration is a process in which an industrial facility uses its waste energy to produce heat or electricity. ■ NT dollar gains The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.076 to close at NT$31.844 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$708 million, compared with US$664 million the previous day.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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