TELECOMS
Lesson in tech leak: Chou
HTC Corp (宏達電) CEO Peter Chou (周永明) wrote to his employees on Monday that the company would learn from a technology leak allegedly involving some of its designers. Chou said the incident would not impact HTC’s operations, product portfolio plans or overall performance. “We will learn from this incident and take it as an opportunity to improve our organizational practices, processes and leadership,” Chou wrote in an internal e-mail. “We must continue to remain positive and sharply focused on our daily tasks and business priorities.” Chou also said the company expects its staff to observe and practice the highest levels of integrity and ethics. “We do not compromise or condone any [legal or ethical] violation at any level of our organization and the company shall act in accordance with the law,” he said.
COMMERCE
Cross-strait trade center open
A cross-strait commerce center opened yesterday in Taipei that is dedicated to promoting Chinese investments in Taiwan and to helping Taiwanese businesses access the market in China. Cosmetology, health checks, postpartum care, biotechnology and elderly care are some of the sectors the center will focus on, said William Wang (王國安), chairman of the Greater China Chain Management Association, which established the facility. He said there was great potential in these sectors as there has been high demand in China recently for such services.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
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