Operations continue: Taipower
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said yesterday it did not expect any impact from the tsunami caused by the earthquake off Japan.
Public relations officer Huang Huei-yu (黃惠予) said the firm’s two operating nuclear power plants on the northern coast were safe, as they were designed to withstand waves as high as 12m.
Separately, the utility yesterday sold NT$14.75 billion (US$500 million) of bonds in two tranches, Liu Wen-guang (劉文光), another public relations officer, said by telephone.
The company will pay 1.6 percent annual interest on the NT$5.75 billion seven-year debt priced yesterday and 1.69 percent interest on NT$9 billion of 10-year notes, Liu said.
AUO plans NT$0.40 payout
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-largest LCD panel maker, plans to pay a cash dividend of NT$0.40 per share for last year, the Hsinchu-based company said in a stock exchange statement yesterday.
AU Optronics said in a separate filing that it purchased NT$1.03 billion in equipment from Marketech International Corp (帆宣系統科技) from June 4, 2009, to yesterday.
Acer, Asustek earn top rankings
PC makers Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) were awarded top retail rankings on Thursday by market researcher GfK.
GfK collected data from more than 4,000 retail outlets in Taiwan, and 14 companies received its No. 1 awards for 2010 in different categories.
Acer topped the rankings in the “desktop computers” category with a 43.9 percent market share, marking the sixth consecutive year it has received the award since GfK began tracking the sector in 2005.
The company also had the highest market share in the “mobile computers” category with 34.4 percent, representing the second consecutive year it has taken the first ranking in the category.
Asustek won the No. 1 ranking in the “monitors” category this year, for the second straight year. GfK did not release its market share figure.
HP Taiwan names new officer
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) yesterday said in a statement that Jon Wang (王嘉昇) would succeed Felix See (施志國) as managing director and vice president of enterprise business for HP Taiwan.
Wang joins HP from Unisys Taiwan, where he spent 20 years in a variety of senior management, product and business development roles to become general manager in 2006.
He will be responsible for overseeing overall operations, driving overall revenue and profitability for HP Taiwan.
See, from Hong Kong, took the helm of HP Taiwan in October 2008 and resigned from the company in December.
Car market grew last year
The nation’s car market boomed last year, with 77,000 cars imported for a total value of NT$69.04 billion, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Thursday.
The number and value of imported cars increased 39.4 percent and 49.5 percent respectively compared with 2009 figures, the DGBAS said in a statement.
Domestic vehicle production also rose 33.5 percent year-on-year to 301,000 vehicles last year. Of these, about 35,000 were sold abroad for an export value of NT$14.4 billion — more than double the year-earlier level, the agency said.
NT dollar takes a dip
The New Taiwan dollar fell NT$0.093 to close at NT$29.599 against the US dollar on turnover of US$908 million yesterday.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to continue supporting local shares, as uncertainties in international politics and the economy could affect Taiwanese industries’ global deployment and corporate profits, as well as affect stock movement and investor confidence, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. The NT$500 billion (US$17.1 billion) fund would remain active in the stock market as the US’ tariff measures have not yet been fully finalized, which would drive international capital flows and global supply chain restructuring, the ministry said after the a meeting of the fund’s steering committee. Along with ongoing geopolitical risks and an unfavorable
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