BANKING
Shanghai branch for bank
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), announced yesterday that it would open an outlet in Shanghai’s free-trade zone on Friday, making it the first Taiwanese bank to establish a presence in the zone. The bank said the sub-branch would not face any limits on lending to finance cross-border trade activity conducted inside the zone and would be allowed to freely exchange Chinese yuan and foreign currencies.
DOT COMS
Online trader eyes 518.com
Addcn Technology Co Ltd (數字科技), which operates online trading platforms for selling cars, houses, clothing and virtual treasures, said on Tuesday that it plans to buy 518 Technology Co Ltd (五一八網路科技), a company that runs recruitment Web site www.518.com.tw, for NT$250 million (US$8.34 million) in cash. The company is aiming to build up its online service business and competitiveness, Addcn Technology general manager Ason Wu (吳聰賢) said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
CURRENCIES
UK talks on yuan deposits
National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said on Tuesday that Taiwan’s high Chinese yuan deposits have attracted the UK government’s attention. Kuan, who recently returned from a trip to the UK along with other officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Supervisory Commission, said the two sides could forge more cooperation in yuan business and other financial areas. As of the end of last month, yuan-denominated deposits in Taiwan’s banking system totaled 292.74 billion yuan (US$47.17 billion), up 0.92 percent from the previous month, the central bank said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
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