■SEMICONDUCTORS
Intel chief cautious
Intel Corp chairman Craig Barrett said yesterday that global stimulus packages would probably have some impact in the next six to 18 months. Barrett, who spoke at a briefing in Beijing, was responding to a question about when demand would recover. But he said Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, was uncertain when demand for semiconductors will revive. Demand for semiconductors is likely to remain well below last year’s levels for the next few quarters before a gradual recovery takes hold as the global economy regains strength, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
■BONDS
S Korea to complete sale
Buoyed by strong demand, South Korea hopes to complete by today the sale of its first dollar-denominated sovereign bond issue since November 2006, a minister said. “The sale of foreign currency stabilization bonds is expected to be completed today or tomorrow,” Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoon Jeung-hyun told parliament yesterday. His ministry declined to give the size of the issue. Dow Jones Newswires quoted sources as saying the government wants to raise up to US$3 billion in a two-part global offering of five and 10-year bonds and demand had now reached about US$5.8 billion.
■INVESTMENT
Move on short-selling mulled
US Federal regulators were floating several options for reining in the practice of short-selling stocks, as investors, corporations and lawmakers clamor for restrictions on moves they say gutted vulnerable companies and worsened the market’s downward spiral. Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission were meeting yesterday to vote on new rules restricting short-selling.
■CRIME
Ex-Qwest chief jail-bound
A judge on Tuesday ordered former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio to report to prison by noon next Tuesday to start a six-year sentence on his insider trading conviction. Nacchio had asked for bail while he appeals his 2007 conviction to the US Supreme Court. But US District Judge Marcia Krieger said Nacchio hadn’t shown he would likely win a reversal of his conviction or be granted a new trial. Nacchio was convicted on 19 insider trading counts but acquitted on 23 counts.
■BANKING
RBS discusses job cuts
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS) said on Tuesday it had begun talks with unions over cutting up to 9,000 jobs globally over two years in a restructuring of its back-office operations. RBS — which is majority-owned by the British government after accepting a £20 billion (US$29.35 billion) state bailout — said that around half the positions that could be affected are in Britain. The restructuring is part of RBS’ plan to reduce annual costs by £2.5 billion over the next three years.
■COMPUTERS
New pricing on iTunes
Apple on Tuesday changed its trademark standard of charging US$0.99 per song at online shop iTunes in a deal with recording studios that strips anti-piracy software from digital downloads. Songs now sell for US$0.69, US$0.99 or US$1.29 with studios deciding pricing. Music studios have long lobbied Apple to charge more for songs at iTunes. Apple ostensibly made the pricing concession in exchange for studios backing off demands for digital rights management software that prevents music from being copied.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
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