■CHINA
Economy to grow 8 percent
The Chinese economy will grow 8 percent this year and achieve more than 9 percent annual growth in 2011, Cheng Siwei (成思危), former vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, said yesterday. The government’s 4 trillion yuan (US$585 billion) stimulus package is having an effect and will aid a full recovery by 2011, Cheng told a financial forum in Ningbo, Zhejiang. “Only when China’s growth rebounds to 9 percent can we say the economy has recovered,” he said. “The economy will certainly be able to regain a growth rate of more than 9 percent in 2011.”
■BANKING
First Financial raises capital
First Financial Holding Co (第一金控 ), Taiwan’s sixth-largest listed financial services company, plans to raise as much as NT$3 billion (US$91 million) in a private placement of 120 million shares at an issue price of NT$25 each, to boost its capital structure, it said in an exchange filing on Friday. Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), meanwhile, is in contact with four major Chinese banks on possible cooperation opportunities, the Economic Daily News reported yesterday, citing chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮). The four banks are Bank of China Ltd (中國銀行), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行), China Construction Bank Corp (中國建設銀行) and Bank of Communications Co (交通銀行).
■BANKING
Five US banks seized
Five US banks with total assets of about US$1.04 billion were seized by regulators, pushing this year’s tally of failures to 45 as a recession drives up unemployment and home foreclosures. Community Bank of West Georgia, in Villa Rica, Georgia; Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan, Georgia; Horizon Bank of Pine City, Minnesota; MetroPacific Bank of Irvine, California; and Mirae Bank of Los Angeles were closed on Friday by state regulators, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said.
■ELECTRONICS
Sony to open R&D centers
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc intends to set up research and development centers in Taiwan to work with Taiwanese companies to develop game products for its gaming consoles, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources. The paper said Sony would hold a press conference with the Ministry of Economic Affairs tomorrow to make the formal announcement.
■TOURISM
Longwaytour calls it quits
Longwaytour Travel Service Ltd (明泰旅行社), a Taipei-based travel agency that focused on Southeast Asia and Russia formally shut down earlier this month because of financial difficulties, the Central News Agency reported on Friday, citing unnamed employees. The report said the 20-year-old travel agency has incurred debt of more than NT$10 million, including NT$8 million in late payments to airline companies and NT$1 million for employee salaries.
■COMPUTERS
Court rules against IBM
IBM Corp won’t be able to block its former mergers and acquisitions chief from working at rival Dell Inc while a lawsuit against the executive works its way through the courts. A US federal judge on Friday rejected IBM’s request for a preliminary injunction against David Johnson. IBM is suing Johnson, claiming he violated a noncompete agreement by taking the job at Dell. IBM argues that Johnson has trade secrets of IBM’s that he could use to help Dell.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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