■AGRICULTURE
US senators target China
Two influential senators on Thursday called on the US agency in charge of identifying abusive trade practices to look into Chinese barriers to US agricultural exports. Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and ranking Republican Chuck Grassley wrote to Shara Aranoff, head of the US International Trade Commission (ITC), and asked for a report covering a five-year period from 2004 to last year. “China is already the fourth-largest market for US agricultural products, but there is room for substantial growth if we can reduce trade barriers to our exports,” said Baucus, claiming that US exporters “face unjustified restrictions in the Chinese market.”
■INSURANCE
AIG board members named
The US Treasury Department has appointed a former banking executive and a former high-tech CEO to the board of directors of insurance giant American International Group Inc (AIG). Donald Layton and Ronald Rittenmeyer will serve as directors as AIG strives to repay a government bailout package that totaled US$182 billion, Treasury said on Thursday. Layton is a former JPMorgan Chase & Co vice chairman who worked at the bank for 29 years. He served in 2008 and last year as chairman and CEO of ETrade Financial Corp. Rittenmeyer is former chairman, president and CEO of the technology systems firm Electronic Data Systems Inc. He presided over that company’s sale to Hewlett-Packard in 2008.
■WIRELESS
Nortel completes unit sale
Canada’s Nortel Networks on Thursday announced it has completed the US$103 million sale of its GSM-GSMR wireless business to Sweden’s Ericsson and Austria’s Kapsch. Announced on Nov. 25, the US$103 million sale awaits confirmation by US, Canadian and French courts. “Ericsson has purchased assets relating to the North American GSM business and Kapsch has purchased assets relating to the EMEA and Taiwan GSM businesses. Kapsch has also acquired the global assets of the GSM-R business,” Nortel said in a statement. The deal calls for transferring 670 Nortel jobs to its buyers.
■OIL
Shell may sell African assets
Shell Oil said on Thursday it was considering selling most of its service stations and other downstream assets in 21 African countries, as part of a wider effort to reduce its global refining and marketing exposure. The decision comes close on the heels of fellow European oil major BP’s announcement it would pull out of five countries in southern Africa, underscoring expectations of lackluster returns in the region’s fuel retailing business. Shell said the review would not include its operations in South Africa, or its exploration and production activities anywhere on the continent, and comes as part of its plan to reduce its global refining and marketing exposure by 15 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
■MINING
Vale inks new ore deals
Brazil mining giant Vale says its has reached new iron ore pricing agreements with most of its clients. Vale SA says in a statement the agreements are “based on short-term market references and price changes on a quarterly basis.” The statement released on Thursday says the agreements cover 97 percent of the company’s client base and that the new pricing system involves “a more flexible approach toward pricing.” It did not provide further details.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
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
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
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