Rexchip to cut executive wages
Rexchip Electronics Corp (瑞晶電子), a locally-listed PC DRAM subsidiary of Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc, yesterday said its board approved a 10 percent cut in the monthly payroll for its high-ranking executives as part of its efforts to save costs as lingering weakness in the global economy hurts its businesses.
Similar cuts were adopted during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
The Taichung-based chipmaker said about 10 executives would be affected by the latest salary adjustment.
The chipmaker’s board also approved lowering the annual interest rates on an overdue loan to the company’s major stakeholder, Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技), to 3.5 percent from about 6 percent.
Powerchip holds about a 30 percent stake in Rexchip.
Yang Ming adds new service
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) announced yesterday that it would provide a Taiwan-Indonesia dedicated service with Interasia Lines.
The rotation of the service is Kaohsiung, Keelung, Jakarta and Kaohsiung for a 14-day round trip.
The route is to be jointly operated by Yang Ming and Interasia with two 1,700 twenty-foot equivalent unit sized container ships.
Separately, Yang Ming said it acquired slots on a Thailand-Java-Singapore service through a swap program with Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) to help the company increase its service frequency in southeast Asia. The rotation of the service is Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Singapore, Jakarta, Singapore, Port Kelang and Singapore.
Domestic market to be targeted
The nation is to switch its economic focus to the domestic market to help fuel job growth, Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) said yesterday.
Liu said the backbone of the country’s economy has long been exports, but exporters tend to establish presences in foreign markets and hire staff there, which contributes little to employment growth back home.
The nation’s economic structure needs to be changed if the domestic labor market is to grow, Liu said during an investment forum held by Academia Sinica.
She said domestic demand contributed nearly 80 percent of the 10.72 percent economic growth in the nation last year, while 20 percent growth came from exports.
Asustek’s Shih wins award
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) was honored on Tuesday for his contributions to the high-tech sector and to entrepreneurship.
Shih was awarded the Pan Wen Yuan Prize for his efforts in technological innovation, industrial design and brand marketing, as well as his promotion of personal computers and brand internationalization, according to the Pan Wen Yuan Foundation (潘文炎基金會), which organizes the prize.
“Taiwan is a place full of human culture. I’m very lucky to work with so many talented people in this booming era, contributing to Taiwan’s technology sector,” Shih said at the award ceremony.
Traders dump greenback
The New Taiwan dollar gained 0.2 percent, or NT$0.068, to NT$30.285 against its US counterpart yesterday, Taipei Forex Inc data showed.
The local unit touched NT$30.210 earlier, its strongest level in a week.
The strength of most of the currencies in the region also gave an indication to traders that they should buy NT dollars, while dumping the greenback during the trading session, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$549 million during the trading session.
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Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
EXPORT CONTROLS: US lawmakers have grown more concerned that the US Department of Commerce might not be aggressively enforcing its chip restrictions The US on Friday said it imposed a US$500,000 penalty on New York-based GlobalFoundries Inc, the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯). The US Department of Commerce in a statement said GlobalFoundries sent 74 shipments worth US$17.1 million to SJ Semiconductor Corp (盛合晶微半導體), an affiliate of SMIC, without seeking a license. Both SMIC and SJ Semiconductor were added to the department’s trade restriction Entity List in 2020 over SMIC’s alleged ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex. SMIC has denied wrongdoing. Exports to firms on the list
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