ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai toils to reopen plant
Apple Inc supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is likely to reopen its shuttered south Indian iPhone factory on Friday at the earliest, a senior government official familiar with the matter said. The plant, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was closed on Dec. 18, following protests when 250 of its workers were treated for food poisoning. Apple has since placed the factory on probation after discovering that some dormitories and dining rooms did not meet standards. Hon Hai told the Tamil Nadu State Government that it was still working to address Apple’s concerns over workers’ living conditions, the official said.
ENERGY
Taipower to hire 857 workers
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to recruit 857 new employees this year to begin filling 3,000 jobs to open up over the next three years. About one-third of the new job openings are for outdoor tower technicians, the state-run utility said in a statement. Taipower said that it would pay a starting monthly salary of NT$31,487 (US$1,139) to qualified applicants after a year of training. Applications are to be accepted from Tuesday next week until Jan. 24, Taipower said, adding that written examinations would be held in May.
WATER
Major reservoirs 70% full
Water levels at the nation’s major reservoirs are about 70 percent to nearly full, the Water Resources Agency said in a statement yesterday, as Taiwan enters its dry season. Last year, the nation had a severe drought, but water conditions are normal at present, the agency said, adding that there is adequate water for household and industrial use. Irrigation for the first harvest would start as scheduled, it added. The agency said that it would continue monitoring water conditions to ensure a stable supply of water for household, industrial and agricultural users. The agency added that it would cooperate with agricultural authorities to prioritize the use of surface water and pond water, as well as increase the efficient use of water in irrigation.
MANUFACTURING
Yeong Guan signs bank loan
Yeong Guan Energy Technology Group Co (YGG, 永冠能源), one of the nation’s leading advanced casting components suppliers, yesterday said that it has signed a syndicated loan agreement with state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) and five other banks to boost its working capital and repay debt. The five-year syndicated loan, composed of US$130 million and NT$2.145 billion, is also intended to help finance the purchase of equipment for a new plant in Taichung, which is to start mass production in the third quarter, it said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY
Auto market boosts CFTC
China Fineblanking Technology Co (CFTC, 和勤精機), a manufacturer of metal stamping products, yesterday reported that revenue last month increased from November due to a steady recovery in the Chinese auto market. Consolidated revenue rose 4.94 percent to NT$249 million last month, the company said in a statement, adding that on an annual basis, revenue fell 2.37 percent, while total revenue for last year expanded 14.54 percent to NT$2.64 billion, from NT$2.31 billion in 2020. The company makes auto parts, which last month accounted for 69.65 percent of total revenue, and voice coil motor plates for hard-disk drive applications, which contributed 27.13 percent.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
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