■SEMICONDUCTORS
Unimicron to acquire rival
Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興電子), a Taiwan-based maker of circuit boards, plans to acquire Phoenix Precision Technology Corp (全懋精密) to expand its market share. In the all-stock acquisition, each Phoenix share will be exchanged for 60 percent of a Unimicron share, the companies said in separate exchange filings on Friday. The swap ratio indicates Unimicron will get Phoenix at a 6.5 percent discount, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Friday’s closing share prices.
■BANKING
Bankruptcies in HK surge
Bankruptcies in Hong Kong soared as the territory’s recession deepened, reaching the highest level since the aftermath of the SARS epidemic in 2003. A total of 1,500 bankruptcy petitions were filed last month, up from 1,266 in January, the Official Receiver’s Office said on its Web site on Friday. Filings last month were the highest since October 2003, after SARS caused the city to slide into its last recession. The number of bankruptcy petitions increased to 11,620 last year from 10,918 in 2007.
■ECONOMY
PRC not the solution: expert
A recovery in China’s economy is not enough to haul the world out of its economic crisis because it is still a developing country, Xinhua news agency cited a leading Chinese economist as saying yesterday. A pickup in Chinese growth would have a positive but limited effect on the world economy, which needs a rally in major economies to recover, said Fan Gong, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee.
■AVIATION
Air France offers new class
Air France hopes to woo back crisis-hit executives who are deserting premium airline tickets with a new seat category priced half way between business and economy. Set for launch on April 1, the “Premium Voyageur” cabin promises long-haul passengers more leg space than economy class at a “highly competitive” price pitched at small and medium-sized businesses. The new cabin will be introduced on Paris flights to New York, Tokyo and Osaka — popular business routes — and then gradually phased in on all long-haul flights operated by Boeing 777s, Airbus A340s and A330s.
■BANKING
FDIC shutters FirstCity Bank
Regulators on Friday shut down FirstCity Bank in Georgia, marking the 18th failure this year of a federally insured US bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) was appointed receiver of the failed bank in Georgia, with more expected to succumb because of the recession. The FDIC estimated that the cost to the deposit insurance fund from the closing of FirstCity Bank would be about US$100 million. The fund now stands at its lowest level in nearly a quarter-century at US$18.9 billion as of Dec. 31, compared with US$52.4 billion at the end of 2007.
■TELECOMS
3D porn on iPhones
IPhone lovers can use their hot devices to view steamy adult videos in 3D. Adult entertainment titan Pink Visual is filming porn videos that can be viewed in 3D on iPhones encased in Wazabee 3DeeShells tailored for the popular Apple mobile devices by German firm Spatial View. 3DeeShell is described as “protective skin” that iPhones can slide into. A window built into the shell allows 3D viewing without special eyeglasses. Pink Visual saw visits to its video service soar after Christmas as people turned on new iPhones and tapped into porn.
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
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
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
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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