■TRADE
New money for ECFA victims
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday it would allocate an additional NT$1 billion (US$31.35 million) in funding to assist 17 sectors that could be adversely affected by a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China. The ministry has appropriated NT$100 million since last year to 12 industrial sectors. They consist of the garment, underwear, sweater, bathing suit, towel, bedding, knitwear, footwear, bags and luggage, home appliance, marble and pottery sectors. Another five sectors were added to the list recently: Chinese medicine, pesticides, environmental agents, veterinary drugs and wood and bamboo products.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Elpida to sell shares, bonds
Elpida Memory Inc, Japan’s biggest computer-memory chipmaker, intends to raise US$200 million from a sale of shares and convertible bonds to Kingston Technology Corp. The Tokyo-based maker of semiconductors will sell ¥11.7 billion (US$125 million) in shares and US$75 million in convertible bonds to Kingston, it said in a filing with the Finance Ministry on Friday. Closely held Fountain Valley, California-based Kingston is a maker of memory modules that are used in personal computers.
■INTERNET
Google acquires Episodic
Google is bringing in some extra help for its YouTube video service with the acquisition of another startup. The purchase of Episodic marks Google’s fifth acquisition so far this year. Terms of the deal announced on Friday were not disclosed. Episodic, based in San Francisco, provides a platform for streaming live video on the Web. YouTube recently has been showing more live video besides the more than 500 million clips that are continuously available on its site.
■INTERNET
Facebook buys Divvyshot
Facebook has acquired a startup called Divvyshot to create more ways for its 400 million users to share their photos online. Terms of the deal announced on Friday weren’t disclosed. Divvyshot, a year-old startup based in San Francisco, runs a service that makes it easier for more people to contribute to the same online photo album.
■BAILOUTS
GM, Hartford repay billions
The US Treasury Department says automaker General Motors Co (GM) and insurer Hartford Financial Services Group Inc have repaid billions of bailout dollars. The Treasury said GM repaid US$1 billion of US$6.7 billion in loans it received as part of a US$50 billion rescue. Hartford repaid its entire US$3.4 billion bailout. The money came from a US$700 billion bailout that Congress passed in October 2008 amid the worst financial crisis in generations. The payments mean Treasury has been repaid US$181 billion of the money it disbursed.
■INVESTMENT
Anomalies seen in account
Societe Generale has discovered “anomalies” in the account of a client advised by a wealth management adviser in Singapore and contacted other clients who might have been affected, the French bank said on Friday. The bank “immediately notified other clients who could be concerned” by the anomalies that were found in February, a Societe Generale spokesman said. The spokesman refused to say whether the anomalies were linked to the client or the adviser. The bank has launched an internal investigation and notified authorities in Singapore.
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
VERTICAL INTEGRATION: The US fabless company’s acquisition of the data center manufacturer would not affect market competition, the Fair Trade Commission said The Fair Trade Commission has approved Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) bid to fully acquire ZT International Group Inc for US$4.9 billion, saying it would not hamper market competition. As AMD is a fabless company that designs central processing units (CPUs) used in consumer electronics and servers, while ZT is a data center manufacturer, the vertical integration would not affect market competition, the commission said in a statement yesterday. ZT counts hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Google among its major clients and plays a minor role in deciding the specifications of data centers, given the strong bargaining power of
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
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