Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) yesterday promised to complete the economic cooperation framework agreement (EFCA) proposal in three months.
He said that discussions on the pact, to be organized by Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research and the Chinese National Federation of Industries, will be held after March 28 when a Taipei district legislator by-election is completed.
Speaking at a legislative session, Yiin said the ECFA would be drafted based on the “premise of maintaining our sovereignty and liberalizing trade across select industries such as petrochemicals, textiles and heavy machinery.”
Yiin also reiterated his support for the planned establishment of Taiwan Memory Co (台灣記憶體公司), to be headed by John Hsuan (宣明智). The state-backed dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chipmaker would not compete with the eight existing DRAM makers, but rather help preserve the industry and strengthen its technological foundation, he said.
“The NT$100 billion [US$2.91 billion] in long-term debt owed by local chipmakers is an issue company executives and banks have to handle themselves. I have never promised a DRAM consolidation plan that would put the eight companies together under one roof,” Yiin said.
The minister said he had no hand in a bank consortium’s decision to lend NT$3 billion to beleaguered ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), whose chairman has reportedly backed out of a promise to act as a joint guarantor for the loan.
Asked about a recent spike in rush orders at electronics companies, Yiin said he did not see this as a sign of a recovery.
“Our economy is contingent on the global economy. We are seeing an L-shaped progression, with a downward sloping L. Perhaps, we might see a ray of hope in the second half of the second quarter at the earliest,” he said.
Separately, state-run companies CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) and Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖) yesterday announced their targets for this year.
CPC chairman Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥) said sales would reach NT$1.359 trillion and total costs would hit NT$1.353 trillion, resulting in pre-tax earnings of NT$6.157 billion, down NT$1.033 billion from last year.
Taisugar expects NT$40.535 billion in revenues, NT$37.568 billion in expenditures and pre-tax earnings of NT$2.967 billion this year, a slight increase from last year’s NT$1.875 billion, chairman Hu Mao-lin (胡懋麟) said in a briefing.
The company said the profit rise would mainly be driven by lower costs from closing several factories, investment gains and interest income.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
SENSOR BUSINESS: The Taiwanese company said that a public tender offer would begin on May 7 through its wholly owned subsidiary Yageo Electronics Japan Yageo Corp (國巨), one of the world’s top three suppliers of passive components, yesterday said it is to launch a tender offer to fully acquire Japan’s Shibaura Electronics Co for up to ¥65.57 billion (US$429.37 million), with an aim to expand its sensor business. The tender offer would be a crucial step for the company to expand its sensor business, Yageo said. Shibaura Electronics is the world’s largest supplier of thermistors, with a market share of 13 percent, research conducted in 2022 by the Japanese firm showed. If a deal goes ahead, it would be the second acquisition of a sensor business since