CTB is now `Mega'
CTB Financial Holding Co (交銀金控) officially changed its name to Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) yesterday and named former vice finance minister Lin Tzong-yeong (林宗勇) as president.
Besides providing financial services to corporations, Lin, currently chairman of the International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀), yesterday vowed to increase Mega's market share in the credit card business to 3.75 percent in two years, up from the current 2.75 percent.
He also said that government-own shares in Mega, which has NT$110 billion in capital, have been diluted to below 20 percent although the government owns over 30 percent in shares of its parent bank -- Chiao Tung Bank (交銀) and 42 percent in shares of its subsidiary -- ICBC.
Chunk of oil giant to be sold
Taiwan plans this year to sell 55.23 percent of Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油), a stake it values at NT$136.4 billion (US$4 billion), as part of a government push to cut holdings in companies and to raise funds to plug a budget deficit.
The nation's biggest oil refiner plans to choose an adviser as early as next month, said Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠), vice chairman of the Commission of National Corporations at the Ministry of Economic Affairs during a year-end press conference yesterday.
Chinese Petroleum faces competition from Formosa Plastics Group (台塑), which started a refinery in 2000, ending Chinese Petroleum's monopoly on oil refining and fuel distribution.
Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) has said the government plans to make Chinese Petroleum's sale a priority because of the increasing rivalry in the oil products market and the need to help finance an estimated NT$237.4 billion budget deficit and to pay debt.
"Privatization will give the company more flexibility," said Donald Hou, who manages about NT$1 billion of stocks at Zurich Securities Investment Trust Co.
TSMC move to be reviewed
A supra-ministerial ad hoc group will convene a meeting next Wednesday to screen Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (台積電) plan to relocate an eight-inch wafer foundry to China, Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said yesterday.
The ad hoc group -- established by the government exclusively to review the TSMC mainland-bound investment plan -- convened a pre-meeting discussion yesterday to sort things out prior to Wednesday's meeting.
Lin declined to speculate on whether the government will give TSMC the green light to head to the mainland during next Wednesday's meeting.
TSMC filed an application with the ministry's Investment Commission in September last year for permission to set up a factory in Shanghai to manufacture 8-inch wafers. The investment project calls for an outlay of US$371 million.
Sumitomo Metal to delay plan
Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd said its planned joint venture with China Steel Corp (中鋼) will be delayed until October from the planned start-up in spring.
The company did not give a reason for the delay.
The steel manufacturing joint venture will be formed in October this year, Sumitomo Metal spokesman Yogen Morihara said in an interview. Vice President of Finance Nobusato Suzuki in December said the venture will be set up as early as spring, or around May.
NT dollar moves higher
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.04 to close at NT$34.450 on the foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$645.5 million, compared with the previous day's US$557.5 million.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
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STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
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