TRANSPORTATION
Uber fined NT$135m
The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei has ordered Uber to pay NT$135 million (US$4.24 million) in back taxes and fines. The US-based online transportation network company has to pay NT$54 million in back taxes and a fine amounting to 150 percent of those taxes, or more than NT$81 million, bureau head Ho Jui-fang (何瑞芳) said yesterday. The government has said Uber is operating in violation of the nation’s laws and imposed several fines on the company, but Uber ignored appeals by authorities and continued to operate. Uber’s defiance has triggered major protests by taxi drivers, who have accused Uber drivers of not paying taxes on the income they earn, unlike licensed taxi drivers. However, earlier this week, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) announced that the government would not draft special legislation that would allow the company to legally provide taxi services. The ministry said it also plans to send a request to Apple Inc and Google to remove Uber from their app stores in Taiwan.
ENERGY
Dong opens Taiwan office
Dong Energy, a Danish offshore wind power developer, yesterday opened an office in Taiwan. Asia general manager Matthias Bausenwein told a news conference that the firm believes in Taiwan’s ambition to develop “renewable” energy and the market potential of offshore wind power in Asia. Bausenwein said the company plans to build four wind farms in Taiwan and expects them to become operational between 2021 and 2024, with a minimum combined power generation capacity of 2 gigawatts. Bausenwein said the firm will sign a letter of intent with the Industrial Technology Research Institute to undertake joint wind power research and development. The government is considering the possibility of forming a joint venture with the firm to tap into the Asia-Pacific market, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told the news conference.
ENERGY
CPC to use solar panels
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it plans to install rooftop solar panels at 100 of its gas stations across the nation next year in an effort to increase the share of power generated by alternative energy sources. The panels are expected to generate 6,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, CPC vice president Chang Ray-chung (張瑞宗) told a news conference. Chang said CPC has also completed the switch from mercury lamps to LED lamps at 612 gas stations and 12 oil depots, which is estimated to save 1.18 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
PANELMAKERS
AUO opens new plant
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, yesterday announced it has launched its first sixth-generation low-temperature polysilicon factory in Kunchan, China. The factory cost NT$50 billion, the company said. The plant will produce high-resolution LCD panels for high-end smartphones and notebook computers, AUO said in a statement. The factory will also produce in-cell touch panels used in smartphones. The plant has an initial monthly capacity of 25,000 of glass substrates, the company said. AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭双浪) said the factory will improve services for the firm’s Chinese customers.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS