Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) could have difficulty getting its hands on a NT$15.8 billion (US$481.3 million) loan from US investment bank Lehman Brothers given government concerns that it may involve funds from China.
"We have followed the rules in applying for the loan ... We can only wait for the government's final decision," THSRC spokesman Arthur Chiang (
THSRC, the operator of the nation's high speed rail, secured a NT$65.5 billion syndicated loan from Lehman Brothers and seven local banks, including Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Fuhwa Commercial Bank (復華銀行), in May.
Of the total, Lehman Brothers will provide NT$15.8 billion, with THSRC using the right to develop five major stations -- Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi and Tainan -- for 50 years as collateral for the loan.
As Lehman Brothers and IBM Corp had established a China Investment Fund with an initial capitalization of US$180 million last October, some Taiwanese officials have voiced concerns that the loan might involve Chinese funds, allowing China to control the right to develop THSRC stations, the Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday.
Chinese investments are banned in Taiwan.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has yet to make a decision on the case, the report said.
Despite the snag, operations at the high-speed rail remained normal, it added.
"We are still alive," Chiang said.
THSRC chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪) said during a ceremony last month to announce the syndicated loan agreement that she hoped the company would break even in the third quarter.
The bullet train system posted revenues of NT$1.03 billion and NT$1.15 billion in April and May respectively. Chiang refused to reveal sales for last month, saying THSRC was only required to report the figure to the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”