■GREEN BUSINESS
Buffet buys share of BYD
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to pay HK$1.8 billion (US$231 million) for a minority stake in BYD Co (比亞迪), China’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries. Berkshire Hathaway unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co will buy 225 million BYD shares, equivalent to a stake of about 10 percent, in the Shenzhen-based manufacturer, a statement issued yesterday. The partnership with MidAmerican would help BYD bring its electric vehicles and other environmental protection measures to the global market, Wang Chuanfu (王傳福), the Chinese company’s chairman, said in the statement. BYD aims to start selling gasoline-electric hybrid cars in the US as early as 2010, it said in January. It also plans to roll out its first all-electric auto in China next year.
■SHIPPING
Yang Ming launches ships
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Taiwan’s second-largest shipping line, launched two new container ships on Friday, increasing the number of vessels in its fleet to more than 100. Lu Feng-hai (盧峰海), chairman of Yang Ming, and Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆), chairman of CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) — the builder of the two ships — jointly presided over the launching ceremony for YM Upward and YM Enhancer at CSBC’s deep-water wharf in Kaohsiung. YM Upward can carry 4,250 containers, known as 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) , while YM Enhancer has a capacity for 8,241 TEUs.
■AIRLINE
Pilots agree to takeover
Pilots at Alitalia SpA gave their green light to a rescue plan for the Italian airline after nearly 15 hours of nonstop negotiations, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported yesterday. The pilots agreed to a takeover by a consortium of private investors after negotiating a reduction in sackings and manager contracts for captains. The agreement meant only Alitalia’s flight attendants union had yet to approve the deal designed to keep Italy’s flagship carrier from collapse. Talks were scheduled with that union tomorrow. Under plans for the takeover, the private investor group, the Italian Air Co, has demanded at least 3,000 jobs be cut.
■AUTO
Chrysler fires 250 workers
Chrysler LLC has resorted to firing 250 salaried workers in order to meet targeted job reductions as it shrinks its struggling US operations, the automaker said on Friday. “There are involuntary separations underway,” Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said. “It’s certainly very difficult. But we have to take these steps to ensure the long term financial health and competitiveness of the company.” The layoffs are part of a cost cutting plan announced in June that involved the elimination of 1,000 white-collar positions. The company said at the time that it hoped to eliminate the positions through buyouts and retirements.
■COMPUTERS
Apple unlocks iPhones in HK
Apple has started selling unlocked models of its popular iPhone 3G in Hong Kong that allow users the freedom to select the telecom provider of their choice. The eight gigabyte version was on sale yesterday at Apple’s online store for HK$5,400 (US$700), while the 16 gigabyte model was HK$6,200. Apple said the phone can be activated with any wireless carrier. The move is a shift from Apple’s previous strategy of tying the phone exclusively to a single mobile operator in each country or territory.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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