FINANCE
Fubon to recruit 40 MAs
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), one of the leading financial holding companies in Taiwan, yesterday announced a plan to hire a total of 40 management associates (MA) for eight different teams this year, marking the largest MA recruitment in history. The MA recruitment plan would be part of the financial holding company’s annual recruitment plan to hire a total of 8,500 employees, following the company’s fast expansion and strong profitability last year. The financial holding company has recruited nearly 160 management associates over the past 10 years, making them among the important human resources for the company, Fubon Financial said in a statement. Fubon Financial will start visiting outstanding colleges across the nation from next month to promote its recruitment plan, hoping to develop more talents for the financial industry, the statement added.
ELECTRONICS
AUO capital plan approved
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panelmaker, yesterday said the board has approved a capital spending of NT$51.53 billion for technology upgrade and new capacity buildup. The board also gave the green light to increase its holding in color filter maker Toppan CFI Taiwan (台灣凸版國際彩光) by NT$4.43 billion. After purchasing additional 478 million shares of Toppan CFI Taiwan, AUO will fully own the color filter maker.
STEEL
China steel to recruit 358
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said it planned to recruit 358 engineers and technicians this year in order to cope with workforce demand for new production lines and to fill vacancy left by retirees. China Steel will started accepting resumes yesterday and will continue to until March 4. Written tests will be held on March 21 and oral tests will take place from April 25 and May 3.
SUPERCONDUCTORS
MediaTek ‘in one of three’
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit designers, yesterday said that due to an increase in its smartphone chip shipments, the company has estimated that one in three smartphones in the global market uses its chips. Last year, smartphone chip shipments from the IC designer topped 350 million units, up more than 50 percent from a year earlier, reflecting strong global demand. MediaTek said it has put great effort into developing 4G smartphone chips, helping the company penetrate the global low-to-high end smartphone market. As a result, MediaTek’s smartphone chips have been winning popularity globally.
CHINA
PBOC injects US$32.8bn
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) added the most cash to the money market in a year as increasing demand for funds before the Lunar New Year holidays drove the overnight interbank rate to a five-week high. The central bank injected a net 205 billion yuan (US$32.8 billion) this week, the most since January last year, when the festival break started Jan. 31. The cash shortage has been aggravated as investors sought funds for initial public share offerings ahead of the week-long holiday that begins on Wednesday next week this year. The PBOC on Wednesday said it will expand a lending facility nationwide to ensure money rates remain stable. The overnight repurchase rate rose five basis points to 3.06 percent as of 5:27pm in Shanghai, according to a weighted average from the National Interbank Funding Center. That was the highest since Jan. 5.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
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