INSURANCE
Two firms face stricter rules
The Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday it has subjected China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) and CTBC Life Insurance Co (中信人壽) to tighter review than peers when they sell protection-type insurance policies based in yuan. The two insurers will have to obtain regulatory approval before selling yuan policies, while peers need only do so when selling for the first time, the commission said. The move came because China Life and CTBC Life sought to circumvent the commission’s supervision by seeking approval for simplified policies, but promoting complicated ones later. The two insurers will enjoy less flexibility until they can convince the commission they have strengthened risk control related to yuan-based policies, the commission said.
COMPUTERS
Acer CFO resigns
Acer’s board on Wednesday approved the resignation of chief financial officer Eva Ho (何一華), the second high-ranking Acer executive to decide to leave the company in the past week. Ho, who joined Acer in March 2012, tendered her resignation as part of her career plan, Acer said in a statement. The vacancy she leaves will be filled by former Videoland Inc (緯來電視網) vice chairwoman and president Nancy Hu (胡競英). The announcement came a week after Acer on March 27 approved the retirement plan of senior corporate vice president and president of Greater China regional operations Scott Lin (林顯郎).
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
New vehicle sales in Taiwan plunged about 37 percent sequentially last month as the long Lunar New Year holiday and 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday cut short the number of working days, along with the lingering uncertainty over import tax cuts on US vehicles, market researcher U-Car said in a report yesterday. New car sales last month totaled 22,043, slumping from 35,073 units in January and down 19.89 percent from 37,515 in February last year, U-Car data showed. Sales of imported luxury cars, led by Mercedes-Benz, plummeted about 45 percent to 3,109 units last month from 5,663 units in the previous month,
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