Joseph O'Konek, the flamboyant head of Taiwan's number three mobile phone service company, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (
"Joseph O'Konek's current contract with Far EasTone will end on June 30 this year," said Tsai Pau-lin (
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
O'Konek, president of Far EasTone, joined the company in May 1998. Prior to that, he was vice president and general manager for PrimeCo Personal Communications in the US and worked for three years in Prague as the chief operating officer of EuroTel.
O'Konek started his wireless career with AT&T in 1981.
US-based AT&T is Far EasTone's major foreign investor holding about 28 percent of the venture's shares.
"After working abroad for about eight years, O'Konek decided to move back to the States," Tsai said without elaborating.
Another insider familiar with O'Konek said he is planning to work for AT&T Wireless in the US.
Meanwhile, the company said they are looking for a suitable successor.
"We've assigned a global headhunting firm to outsource a foreign telecom industry veteran for our new president," said Melissa Chen (
During the interim, Douglas Hsu (
According to Far EasTone's financial report early this month, revenue for the first quarter this year was NT$8.213 billion. Its net income margin was NT$3.607 billion, a 53.3 percent improvement compared over the same period last year.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS