■ Bank fined for security lapses
The Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday fined Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) NT$2 million (US$61,500) for the bank's failure to enforce internal security controls, the commission announced yesterday. The bank was penalized after an employee at its branch in Tai-ping (太平), Taichung County, stole NT$16 million from automatic teller machines (ATMs) during the Lunar New Year holiday. The culprit is still at large. The commission said that the bank had failed in several areas, including accurate control of the ATM codes and security monitoring systems, constituting a breach of Article 45-1 of the Banking Law (銀行法), which regulates banks' obligation to maintain proper internal controls.
■ Toll firm sues lawmaker
Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (遠通電收) yesterday filed a lawsuit against People First Party Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), accusing the lawmaker of libel and damaging the company's credibility, the company said in a statement. Liu on Wednesday said that licensing for the company's infrared system may have been faked, as the document bore the seal of a German company, while the system had actually been created by an Austrian firm. Far Eastern Electronic, contractor for the nation's first highway electronic toll collection system, said that the High Administrative Court had found the document to be in accordance with the relevant regulations.
■ Sharp to buy Quanta panels
Sharp Corp will buy panels for TVs from Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) to meet rising demand before the World Cup soccer tournament and to maintain its lead as the world's largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) television maker. Sharp will buy Quanta panels starting this month for 26-inch and 32-inch televisions sold outside of Japan, said Hiroshi Takenami, a spokesman based in Tokyo. Sharp lost market share to Sony Corp in the global LCD television market in the October-to-December quarter, as it failed to make enough television sets, a situation which Sharp president Katsuhiko Machida called the company's "biggest regret of 2005." Sharp also signed an agreement last month with Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) to share some LCD patents, and may buy LCD displays for smaller TVs and computer monitors from the Taiwanese manufacturer.
■ Chi Mei secures loans
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) has signed agreements with 30 banks for seven-year syndicated loans worth a total of NT$60 billion (US$1.85 billion), the company said yesterday. The funding will be used to build 7.5-generation production lines for liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels and color filters, a company statement said. Chi Mei, the world's fourth-biggest flat-panel maker, plans capital expenditure for this year of about NT$100 billion (US$3.08 billion). The company delivered 5.6 million television panels last year, which came in better than its original projection of 5.5 million. Chi Mei president Ho Jau-yang (何昭陽) said last month that he expected shipments of all panels to grow 55 percent to 38 million panels this year, including combined shipments of 28 million computer-monitor panels.
■ Fund outflows cap forex gains
The New Taiwan dollar turned strong against its US counterpart yesterday, but its gains were capped by foreign fund outflows, dealers said. The local currency rose NT$0.007 to close at NT$32.523 on the Taipei foreign exchange market, on turnover of US$767 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
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