■SHIPPING
Evergreen replaces chief
Evergreen Marine Corp. (長榮海運), Asia’s biggest container shipping line, announced on Friday that chief executive vice president Wang Chung-jinn (王宗進) will replace Jack Yen (顏火燿) as the company’s president tomorrow. Wang will also serve as the company’s spokesman, while Yen will become a vice chairman at the nation’s largest container shipping company.
■AUTOMOBILES
Volkswagen net income falls
Germany’s Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker by sales, said on Friday its net income for last year fell 80 percent to 960 million euros (US$1.3 billion) from nearly 5 billion euros in 2008. The drop came as revenue fell 8 percent, to 105.2 billion euros from nearly 114 billion euros a year earlier, even though deliveries to customers were up 1.3 percent year-on-year at 6.34 million vehicles from 2008. Volkswagen said its revenue and operating profit for this year are expected to exceed the previous year’s figures.
■FINANCE
Postbank Ireland to close
Postbank Ireland, jointly owned by the Irish post office and French bank BNP Paribas, said on Friday it would stop accepting new customers and wind down by the end of the year. Postbank chairman Thierry Schuman said a number of factors had led to the decision, including “the unprecedented circumstances in which the financial services sector finds itself, the highly competitive savings market within Ireland and the absence of a perspective of profitability in current market circumstances.”
■FINANCE
Fannie Mae asks for cash
Fannie Mae is asking for a federal cash infusion of US$15.3 billion after posting another big loss in the fourth quarter of last year. The mortgage finance company, seized by federal regulators in September 2008, lost US$16.3 billion, or US$2.87 a share in the October-to-December period. That takes into account US$1.2 billion in dividends paid to the Treasury Department. It compares with a loss of US$25.2 billion or US$4.47 a share, in the year-ago period.
■ICELAND
Credit under pressure
The breakdown in talks on how Iceland should compensate Britain and the Netherlands for money lost in the collapse of an Icelandic bank has put pressure on Iceland’s already weak credit status, ratings agency Moody’s said on Friday. Reykjavik’s failure “to resolve the Icesave dispute puts the Icelandic government’s BAA3 rating under downward pressure,” Moody’s said in a statement. “Moody’s believes the failure to reach a new agreement is likely to lead to an extended delay of the IMF program, a weaker economic recovery and potentially, political instability,” it said.
■AGRICULTURE
Coffee producers meet
Delegates representing coffee producers and consumers met in Guatemala on Friday to discuss global warming’s effect on coffee growing, as producers warned climate change has forced them to find new growing grounds. Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to higher, cooler and more prized ground, putting their cash crop at risk. “In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before,” said Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
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