Alstom SA, the maker of France’s iconic Train a Grande Vitesse high-speed trains, and German industrial leader Siemens AG on Friday signed an agreement on creating a global leader in the rail industry.
The business combination agreement (BCA) sets the terms of combining Alstom with Siemens’ mobility business, including its rail traction drive business, after the two firms unveiled their plans last year.
NEW LEADER
“With the signing of the BCA, we have reached an important milestone on the way to building a new leader capable of tackling the challenges of tomorrow’s mobility,” Alstom chief executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge, who is to be the CEO of the new company, said in a statement.
Siemens board member Roland Busch is to serve as chairman of the board of directors of the combined entity, which is to be based in France.
Siemens is to control 50 percent of Alstom immediately, but will be blocked from taking a bigger than 50.5-percent stake in the next four years.
Alstom’s trade unions objected to the merger, fearing job cuts and closures.
TRANSFORMATION
An Alstom-Siemens merger has been mooted for years and completes the transformation of the French group, which in 2015 sold its energy business to US rival General Electric Co for 9.5 billion euros (US$11.7 billion).
The merger would create the world’s top firm for rail signalization and the No. 2 for building train carriages, which should help the firms face rising Chinese competition. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Alstom employs 32,800 people worldwide, while Siemens Mobility has 28,800 staff.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS