State-run China Shipbuilding Corp (
"We are confident that the auction will draw enough bidders," Fan Kuang-nan (
To complete its privatization, China Shipbuilding had planned to release 66 percent of its shares, worth NT$5 billion (US$154 million), by the end of last year. However, its first auction, held in October last year, drew only one bidder -- Taiwan Maritime Transport Ltd (
A major reason for the failure was NT$7 billion in severance pay costs, which has now been covered by the government, Fan said.
Another obstacle was a restriction barring the transfer of shares within five years of purchase, which has been relaxed, he said.
As the government has now funded the severance pay costs, lawmakers expressed concern that private companies would reap the benefits. They said the administration should have state-controlled companies invest in China Shipbuilding to increase government holdings, according to a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times.
As a result, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plans to push China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Yangming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) to jointly bid for the China Shipbuilding stake, the report said, citing Wu Kuo-tong (吳國棟), vice chairman of the ministry's State-owned Enterprise Commission.
China Steel and Yangming Marine, as well as MPH of the US, British Aerospace, Mitsubishi of Japan, Hyundai Group of South Korea and Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), had previously expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in China Shipbuilding, but did not submit tenders in the first round of bidding.
Fan said that he had not heard of the plan from the commission, but welcomed any interested firms, both local and foreign, to participate in the bidding.
A China Steel official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the company would not rule out joining the bid, as China Shipbuilding has core-competence in the industry.
Through the deal China Steel would also be able to consolidate a partnership with China Shipbuilding, which is the largest buyer of its steel boards, procuring an average of 200,000 tonnes each year, he said.
"I think this would be a good deal, but we still need to decide whether or not to make the investment after all the terms and conditions are outlined," he said.
A public relations official at Yangming Marine said the firm was still evaluating a share purchase.
"No concrete decision, either on the investment or an alliance with China Steel, has been made so far," she said. She also requested that she not be named.
China Shipbuilding reported sales of NT$19.3 billion last year and earnings of NT$711 million, exceeding the NT$320 million target the government set, Fan said.
Revenues may drop to NT$18.4 billion this year, as the company has focused on making military vessels, he said.
China Shipbuilding's current orders would keep it busy until the second quarter of 2009, Fan said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS