■ Electronics
Hon Hai head selling shares
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is seeking to sell 7 million of his shares in the nation's largest electronics exporter, according to stock exchange data. Gou, the nation's second-richest person, on Friday applied to the Taiwan Stock Exchange to sell the shares on the spot market, based on statistics published on the stock exchange's Web site. No details were disclosed on the selling price. The proposed sale will be worth NT$1.61 billion (US$51 million), based on Hon Hai's NT$229.50 closing share price on Friday. Shares of Hon Hai have risen 28 percent this year compared with a 13 percent gain in the nation's benchmark TAIEX in the same period. Gou holds 635 million Hon Hai shares, according to the exchange statistics. That's worth NT$146 billion based on Friday's closing share price. Gou is selling Hon Hai shares to raise money to pay taxes, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. Gou last applied to sell 80 million Hon Hai shares in July 2004, the Taipei-based newspaper said.
■ Technology
Chinese robot gets personal
China has manufactured its first "personal robot" that can provide services at home and, among other skills, log on to the Internet and tell its owners the news and weather, Xinhua news agency said on Friday. Liangliang (亮亮), standing at about 80cm, is able to walk and navigate obstacles at ease, as well as perform tasks as instructed by humans. Its developer, the Shenyang-based Xinsong Automation Co, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the robot cold "provide services of education, entertainment and security" and act as a personal assistant, Xinhua said. "In the presentation debut, a staffer sent a mobile phone short message to the robot inquiring about the situations at home and, in two minutes, Liangliang replied with a message: temperature 22oC and everything normal at home," Xinhua said.
■ Retail
Exxon to sell Borneo outlets
Exxon Mobil plans to sell 28 retail service stations operated by its Malaysian subsidiary on Borneo island to a local company, a news report said yesterday. The oil giant, which has operated in Malaysia for more than 100 years, will continue to run the hundreds of other service stations it owns across the Southeast Asian nation, the Star newspaper said. ExxonMobil Borneo Sdn Bhd, an Exxon subsidiary, has accepted an offer from TCH Enterprise Sdn Bhd to buy its retail service stations and operate them as an Esso-branded distributor, the Star quoted a spokesman as saying. The report did not say why Exxon was selling the stations or the sale price, and the group could not be reached for comment yesterday.
■ Beverages
Pepsi settles with water rival
PepsiCo Inc has agreed to change the look of its SoBe Life Water drink to settle a lawsuit brought by a company which promotes itself as a pioneering nutrient-enhanced water maker, it was announced on Friday. Energy Brands, which does business as Glaceau, had sued PepsiCo, the parent of the beverage maker Pepsi Cola, saying the look of the SoBe Life Water product was vastly similar to its own Vitaminwater brand. In the lawsuit, Energy Brands said PepsiCo launched its product with similar ingredients, color, sweetener type and calorie content only after first trying to acquire the Vitaminwater brand earlier this year.
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
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
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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