Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司), the nation's largest alcoholic-beverage producer, will hold a company-wide poll today to let employees voice their opinion about the government-set privatization plan, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan Tobacco was spun off from the Taiwan Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau (菸酒公賣局) in July 2002, and the government is hoping to finalize its privatization plan by the end of this year.
Viewing the privatization plan as a way to strengthen the company's competitiveness, Taiwan Tobacco's management submitted a proposal to the Cabinet last April, highlighting their plans for better corporate management by bringing in strategic partners and selling shares to private investors.
But the company has not yet received a greenlight from the Cabinet, as members of the com-pany's labor union have protested several times against such plans, the statement said.
The company has been facing stiff competition from foreign rivals, particularly those from China, since Taiwan joined the WTO on Jan. 1, 2002.
Company chairman Morgan Hwang (黃營杉) told lawmakers earlier this month that the company's market share had been decreasing significantly.
He pointed out that its rice wine market share had declined to 8 percent of the nation's total sales of white liquor, and that the counterfeit "Long Life" cigarettes from China already held a 10-percent share of the local market.
To overcome the bottleneck in its privatization push, the company decided to hold a companywide vote and mapped out four possible directions for employees to vote on, the statement said.
According to the statement, the choices are: to bring in strategic partners and sell shares to complete the privatization plan; to sell the company's shares and gradually privatize the company; to maintain the company as a state-run entity while undertaking corporate restructuring or to split up into four state-run units -- tobacco, beverage, beer and distribution.
Employees will be able to cast their ballots between 9am and 3pm, the statement said, and the results will be made public tomorrow.
The company said privatization is a means to an end but not the goal. While the government decided to privatize all state-run enterprises about a decade ago, time has changed and it is necessary for all parties to re-think the policy, the statement said.
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
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
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
RSS