Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday announced that Victor Hsu (許澎) would be its new chairman after Eugene Wu (吳東進) was suspended by the Financial Supervisory Commission and barred from the firm’s board until his term ends in June 2023.
It is to be the second time that Hsu has taken over a Wu post as chairman after he assumed the role at Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) after Wu retired from that company in June.
“We would review Hsu’s qualifications and then decide whether to interview him in person,” Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Wang Li- hui (王麗惠) told a news conference in New Taipei City.
Meanwhile, the commission has rejected Jko Asset Management Co’s (街口投信) appointment of Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) as chairman, citing insufficient documents, Securities and Futures Bureau Chief Secretary Kuo Chia-chun (郭佳君) told the news conference.
“The firm did not answer our request to submit Hu’s certificates of graduation, which are necessary documents to review Hu’s qualifications,” Kuo said. “This indicates that the firm is non-compliant.”
Hu said that the commission on Friday last week had harassed his employees by interrogating staff and searching its offices.
The commission conducted an on-site inspection that day, as Jko Asset Management failed to clearly explain its Tuofu Bao (託付寶) investment service, Kuo said.
“We intended to check whether the asset management company has good internal controls after its affiliates Jkopay Co Ltd (街口支付) and Jko Fintech Co (街口金融科技) launched a controversial service,” Kuo said, adding that the inspection was normal practice.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
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For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply