Pegatron Corp (和碩), a contract manufacturing arm under Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), yesterday said it has launched an internal investigation into allegations of kickbacks paid to an Apple Inc employee and that it has suspended the manager suspected of being involved.
“Pegatron was surprised to learn of the alleged conduct in media reports … Such conduct is reprehensible and in conflict with Pegatron’s principles and practices,” the company’s spokesman Charles Lin (林秋炭) said in a statement.
The company has suspended the manager, who has not been named, at its Chinese subsidiary, Kaedar Electronics Co (凱達), and the company will take all necessary and appropriate actions, Lin said.
“[The manager] believed that she was paying the money for commercial purposes and not as a kickback,” Jonathan Chang (張昭平), finance director at Pegatron, said by telephone yesterday.
The employee is the most senior manager at Kaedar, Chang said.
Pegatron acquired Kaedar in July 2008. Kaedar, established in 2001 in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, primarily manufactures plastic packages for electronic products, including iPods.
Despite the fact that Kaedar is independently operated and managed, and the manager has not been accused of any wrongdoing, Pegatron will closely monitor the investigation, Lin said.
A US federal grand jury indicted Paul Devine, an Apple global supply manager, for allegedly taking at least US$1 million in kickbacks from six Apple suppliers in Asia. Devine, 37, pleaded not guilty on Monday to money laundering and wire fraud charges in a US court.
The indictment document released last week said Kaedar was among six Asian firms that received confidential information from Devine to help it negotiate favorable terms in supply contracts with Apple between 2005 and 2008.
The other companies accused include Cresyn Co in South Korea and Jin Li Mould Manufacturing Pte Ltd (精利製模) in Singapore.
Chang said payments were made from Kaedar to Devine’s company, CPK Engineering, from 2007. He did not say how much money was paid or how long the transactions continued.
Lin said paying commissions to agents for sales orders is common practice for Pegatron and the industry, while the company does not pay bribes or kickbacks to secure business, he added.
Pegatron’s shares appeared undeterred by its subsidiary’s scandal yesterday. The stock rose 1.6 percent to close at NT$38.8 (US$1.2) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Brokerage firm Macquarie Equities Research is upbeat on Pegatron’s prospect, saying the company is emerging as a large electronics manufacturing services firm with new orders expected to come from Acer Inc (宏碁) and Apple.
About 60 percent of Apple’s products, such as iPhones, iPads and iMacs, are contract manufactured by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), and Pegatron may supply Apple’s CDMA iPhones from the first quarter next year, said analyst Daniel Chang (張博淇).
Pegatron has the potential to be a future second source for iPads or Macbooks as well, as Apple aims to cut dependence on Hon Hai, he said.
In addition to notebook orders from Asustek, Pegatron has won orders from Acer with shipments to begin within one to two quarters, Chang said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BLOOMBERG
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
RSS