CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金) yesterday appointed majority shareholder Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) and former company president Daniel Wu (吳一揆) as board directors.
The board also appointed Wu as the group’s vice chairman.
The leadership reshuffles confirmed earlier media speculations that Koo would rejoin the company’s boardroom after being acquitted of charges involving alleged contraventions of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Banking Act (銀行法).
Photo: Lin Zhen-kun, Taipei Times
The charges embroiled Koo for more than a decade and cost him his position as vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co, which his father, Jeffrey Koo Sr (辜濂松), founded in 2002. The conglomerate changed its formal title to CTBC Financial in 2013.
Koo Jr would continue to promote sports and charity events, as he has been doing as head of CTBC Charity Foundation (中國信託慈善基金會), local Chinese-language media said.
A board seat would help Koo Jr regain membership at the Third Wednesday Club, a major trade group, and vie for its chairman’s seat in June. This would allow him to promote Taiwan’s international presence via economic and trade venues, as his father did.
Jeffrey Koo Sr had served as ambassador-at-large between 1998 and 2012, taking part in APEC and other important international meetings on behalf of Taiwan.
Local media said Jeffrey Koo Jr has no intention of taking the helm at CTBC Financial.
CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行) chairman Morris Li (利明?) yesterday tendered his resignation, which is to take effect on Friday next week.
The bank’s vice chairman Austin Chan (詹庭禎) would take over the chairmanship during the transition.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
REGIONAL COMPETITION: Over the past few years the Philippines has lost ground to neighbors such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, a Philippine official said The Philippines is trying to enlist Taiwanese chip giants to expand in semiconductors, a bid to catch up with its neighbors who are emerging as significant suppliers in the industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) are among companies the Philippines is reaching out to as it seeks equipment and expertise to build out chip fabrication operations, said Dan Lachica, head of the Southeast Asian country’s main electronics industry group, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc (SEIPI). The association is working with Philippine officials in Taiwan to talk with potential
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98