■ SEMICONDUCTORS
Ex-Infineon chief probed
Munich prosecutors have widened their investigation into corruption at chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG to include the company's former head, Ulrich Schumacher, a spokesman said on Saturday. Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld, a spokesman for Munich prosecutors, confirmed that Schumacher was under investigation. But he declined to comment on a report in the German weekly Focus that the investigation centered on Schumacher's purchases of collectable automobiles from the head of a Swiss consultancy, who offered them to Schumacher at below market prices in return for contracts with the Munich-based chipmaker. Ralf-Udo Schneider, the president of Swiss BF Consulting AG, was arrested in Switzerland last month in connection with the probe after he was implicated in the scandal.
■ BANKING
Corruption cases rising
China uncovered 240 cases of corruption in its state-owned commercial banks in the first half of the year, with losses totalling 1.6 billion yuan (US$198 million), state media said yesterday. The Xinhua news agency, citing a State Banking Regulatory Commission official, said the money stolen from commercial banks amounted to about half of the country's total sum loss to bank embezzlement. About 25 percent of the 240 cases involved more than 1 million yuan each, Xinhua said. Shen Xiaoming (沈曉明), deputy director of the commission's supervision department, attributed the large number of scandals to bank reforms and improved government efforts to crack down on financial crimes. The past year has seen an increase in the number of arrests and trials on corruption charges of bank officials, from branch managers to the vice chairman of the state-run Bank of China (中國銀行) in Hong Kong.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Proton eyes German models
Malaysia's biggest carmaker Proton Holdings is mulling the purchase of two of Volkswagen's platforms, a report said yesterday. The Edge financial newspaper quoted a Proton official as saying that the company was interested in the Passat and Sharan platforms, both of which achieved international success a few years ago. The Sharan is a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle while the Passat is a saloon model. The source declined to reveal how much Proton would pay for the platforms. But one industry analyst said buying the two platforms would not address Proton's problem of quickly producing new models, as design and development work could still take a year or two.
■ TAXES
Hikes inevitable in Japan
An increase in Japan's 5 percent sales tax will be "unavoidable" for whoever succeeds Junichiro Koizumi as the country's next prime minister, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said yesterday. "Facing the issue of increasing the sales tax will be unavoidable" for Koizumi's successor, Tanigaki said on TV Asahi's Sunday Project program. ``We can't get away from it." Koizumi has said he won't raise the tax on consumers while he is prime minister. Japan needs to bolster tax revenue to help it slow a rise in public debt, which according to the finance ministry will rise to 151 percent of GDP by March 31, the highest among the world's major industrialized nations. Japan also faces a fall in the number of tax payers as more people retire and the population declines. Japan relies on sales of government debt to cover shortfalls in tax revenue, Tanigaki said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
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