■CHINA
Solar deal signed
Southern California’s eSolar Inc has signed a major agreement to build a series of solar power plants in China. Under the agreement announced on Friday, the Pasadena, California-based eSolar will provide China Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co with the technology and information to build solar farms with a capacity totaling 2,000 megawatts over the next decade. The initial eSolar project will be located in the Mongolian desert in northern China. The deal comes four months after Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar struck a deal with China to build a massive solar field in the same region.
■MEDIA
Canwest papers bankrupt
Canada’s insolvent media giant Canwest Global Communications has put its entire newspaper division under bankruptcy protection. The company said on Friday that it filed for creditor protection in an agreement with its lenders to help accelerate the company’s ongoing restructuring. Canwest says it has also arranged C$25 million (US$24 million) in financing from its senior lenders. Canwest owns major dailies such as the Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald.
■ENERGY
Google makes electric bid
Internet search giant Google is seeking government authority to buy and sell electricity in the US, a further expansion of its operations aimed at boosting renewable energy. In a document filed last month with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Google indicated that its Google Energy unit asked for “market-based rate authority.” Under that authority, “Google Energy will engage in wholesale electric power and energy transactions as a marketer,” the filing said.
■INDIA
PepsiCo investment jumps
India’s government approved a plan by PepsiCo Inc to increase its investments in the country by almost a third over the next three years. PepsiCo will invest an additional US$200 million in its local unit, the government said yesterday in a statement, taking its total investments to US$655 million. The Purchase, New York-based company is putting additional resources into India, which ranks among its top 10 markets and three fastest-growing countries.
■SHIPPING
UPS to cut jobs
Shipping giant UPS Inc will cut 1,800 management and administrative jobs, less than 1 percent of its global work force, as it repositions itself for a gradual economic recovery. About 1,100 employees will be offered a voluntary separation package as part of the work force reduction, which is meant to streamline the company’s US small package segment. Other cuts will come through attrition and layoffs. UPS also raised its profit forecast for the fourth-quarter that ended last month, citing improving operations and cost cuts.
■ENERGY
GE patent claim rejected
A federal agency that oversees trade disputes has rejected General Electric Co’s (GE) claim that Mitsubishi violated GE patents to build wind turbines that the Japanese firm imports to the US. The US International Trade Commission decision, handed down on Friday without comment, reversed an administrative law judge’s ruling that Mitsubishi had violated the patents. The case comes as larger wind turbines are becoming more popular.
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
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
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
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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