New Cathay presidents named
Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控) named Lee Chang-ken (李長庚) as president, replacing Chen Tsu-pei (陳祖培), who resigned, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Lee will also replace Chen as president of its unit Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the holding company said in a separate statement. The changes need the approval of the Financial Supervisory Commission, the statement said.
Cathay United Bank’s board yesterday approved plans to issue up to NT$20 billion (US$690 million) of debentures to finance medium and long-term funding needs and improve its capital adequacy, the lender said in an exchange statement.
Meanwhile, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) named Hsiung Ming-ho (熊明河) as president, replacing Chang Fa-te (張發得), who resigned, Cathay Financial said in a separate statement to the stock exchange.
Lin Chao-ting (林昭廷), executive vice president at the insurer, will be the acting spokesman, replacing Chang, the statement said.
New feed-in fees set
The government is setting this year’s feed-in tariffs at a minimum NT$7.33 a kilowatt-hour for solar power and NT$2.61 for electricity generated by wind, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Feed-in tariffs are the prices that state-run utility Taiwan Power Co (台電) pays generators. The prices for last year were NT$11.12 per kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic solar panels and NT$2.38 for wind farms, the ministry’s Bureau of Energy announced in December 2009.
The government has set minimum wholesale prices for electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines at higher levels than that from fossil fuels to spur production of renewable energy after the legislature approved the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例) in June 2009.
Pension fund makes billions
The Public Service Pension Fund had a good year last year, making NT$15.9 billion mainly out of stock market investments, the fund’s management board said on Thursday.
The board said it expects the stock market to continue to offer good returns this year — better than the bonds market.
In its annual report on the fund, the board said that as of the end of last year, a total of 640,000 public servants and their employer — the government — had contributed NT$625.9 billion to the fund.
From that total, the fund made a profit of NT$94.2 billion, giving it a revenue of NT$720 billion. After deducting expenditure of NT$230.2 billion, the fund had a net worth of NT$489.8 billion.
Nokia’s global share down
Nokia Oyj lost 5.8 percentage points of the global share of the mobile handset market while holding on to top spot with 31 percent in the fourth quarter, researcher Strategy Analytics said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The total market climbed 16.3 percent to 1.36 billion units for the period, it said.
Samsung Electronics Co maintained its second spot with 20.2 percent, LG Electronics Inc held third place and Research in Motion Ltd was fourth, the researcher said. LG’s share dropped to 7.7 percent from 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, it said. Apple Inc climbed to fifth with a 4.1 percent share, from 2.5 percent a year earlier, according to the statement.
On Thursday, Nokia posted a net profit of 745 million euros (US$1.02 billion) in the period from October to last month, down from 948 million euros a year earlier, on sales that were up 6 percent at 12.65 billion euros.
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Polar Semiconductor LLC to collaborate on the production of 8-inch wafers in the US. The collaboration aims to strengthen 8-inch wafer manufacturing in the US amid Washington’s efforts to increase onshore manufacturing of semiconductors, contribute to supply chain resilience against shifting geopolitical dynamics, and ensure a secure domestic supply of power semiconductors critical to automotive, electric grids, robotic manufacturing and data centers, the companies said in a joint statement. Under the MOU, Polar and UMC will identify devices for Polar to manufacture at
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
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