Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said a priority for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is to renegotiate the terms of contracts with independent power providers after he formally became the state-run utility’s chairman yesterday.
During a handover ceremony, he vowed to reverse the public’s negative sentiment toward the company, but declined to comment on a probe by the Agency Against Corruption on the company’s construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市).
The agency yesterday raided the power plant’s construction division and questioned five Taipower officials over the project’s procurements.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Hwang replaced Edward Chen (陳貴明), who resigned on May 5 after six years on the job following widespread complaints of inefficiency and waste at the company.
The complaints were sparked by the company’s planned increased to electricity rates — which will be gradually introduced in three phases beginning on June 10 — as Taipower aims to cut its heavy losses.
“Taking the post of Taipower chairman is not an easy job at this time, but I will face the challenge and turn the crisis into an advantage,” Hwang said.
Taipower, the nation’s largest electricity supplier and monopoly grid operator, incurred net losses of NT$36 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2010, a 167 percent increase from NT$13 billion in 2009, according to statistics posted on the company’s Web site. The company has accumulated NT$150 billion in net losses as of the end of last month.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), who presided over the ceremony, said Taipower began losing money in 2006 because of rising international oil prices. While the company increased rates in 2006 and 2007, the increases were not enough, he added.
Hwang said Taipower had been under fire because of public misunderstanding of the utility’s operations, but acknowledged that there is room for improvement.
To improve the public’s perception of the company, Hwang said he would ensure full disclosure of information, effective communication with the public and flawless management.
In addition, the company would strictly follow measures proposed by a Ministry of Economic Affairs-organized task force to improve its to overall efficiency, he said. The task force is expected to deliver a report next month.
Hwang said he would also focus on transparency of electricity rates, procurement and fuel costs, and boost the company’s communication with the public, despite the complexities involving power generation and supply.
“I will make the company watch everything it spends, like a household does,” Hwang said, adding that he would enhance employees’ participation in the operations of the utility.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS