■ AIG gets the go-ahead
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday approved American International Group Inc's (AIG) application to acquire Taipei-based Central Insurance Co (中央產險) as a 100-percent owned subsidiary, according to a press release. AIG announced in February that it planned to absorb Central Insurance, the nation's sixth-largest non-life insurer with a market share of 6 percent, through a share-swap transaction during the third quarter. AIG plans to merge Central Insurance with its subsidiary AIU Insurance Co to form the nation's third-largest non-life insurer in terms of direct gross premiums written, topping NT$10 billion (US$318.5 million) a year. "It is estimated that the combined entity would take a 8.99 percent market share [if AIG's other subsidiary United Guaranty Mortgage Indemnity Co is merged as well]," the press release said.
■ Debts can be sold, FSC says
The Financial Supervisory Com-mission said yesterday that it had decided to conditionally lift the temporary ban that was set late last year barring banks from selling bad debts to asset management companies, one of the commission's measures to help bail out indebted credit and cash-card holders. "The decision was made to ensure consumers' rights and the development of the finance sector," the commission's acting spokesperson Amy Chin (金文悅) said. The decision took effect yesterday after the commission sent the official documents to the Bankers' Association (銀行公會), the financial regulator said. Asset management companies cannot resell the bad debts they buy to third parties. Debt collection activities have to be conducted by the original selling banks or the institutions those banks entrust or designate, the commission said. Asset management firms have to accept the repayment schemes the debtors and the original credit banks agreed during the debt negotiation mechanism, it said. Bad debts that had entered the negotiation mechanism before the reopening cannot be sold to asset management companies, the commission added.
■ ProMOS shares upgraded
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), Taiwan's third-largest maker of computer memory chips, was upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" by Credit Suisse Group, which cited improved profitability and stable product prices. Hsinchu-based ProMOS was expected to post a profit in the second quarter, Wang Wanli (王萬里), an analyst at Credit Suisse wrote in a report yesterday. ProMOS made a loss of NT$518 million (US$16.5 million) in the first quarter after it switched to using technology from South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc last year. But Wang said ProMOS is "turning around from the transition and improving margins owing to stable prices." Wang raised his target price for ProMOS to NT$15 from NT$11.
■ FPG to boost investment
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation's biggest industrial conglomerate, plans to invest NT$100 billion (US$3.2 billion) on new plants because of rising global demand for fuels and chemicals. The project will include a 150,000-barrel-a-day crude oil distillation unit, and a plant with an annual capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of aromatics, said Lee Chih-tsuen (李志村), president of Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), yesterday.
■ NT gaining ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.062 to close at NT$31.398. Total turnover reached US$923 million.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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