■ AVIATION
Mandarin Air leases jets
Taiwan’s Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) has leased eight large aircraft from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to operate tourist charter flights across the Taiwan Strait, a newspaper said yesterday. The China Times quoted Mandarin Airlines President Harris Wang (王華宇) as saying that Mandarin Airlines has leased eight E-190/195 jets from Embraer to replace its outdated Fokker-50 and Fokker-100s. E-190 and E-195 can seat 108 and 120 passengers respectively. Mandarin Airlines chose them because they are spacious and can be flown by pilots licensed to fly Boeing jets, Wang said.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Ssangyong denies illegality
Ssangyong Motor Co, controlled by China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), denied allegations it illegally leaked technology to the Chinese automaker. Ssangyong Motor confirmed that its head office in Pyeongtaek, 70km south of Seoul, was raided on Friday. MoneyToday reported on Friday that prosecutors raided Ssangyong Motor as part of an investigation into whether SAIC Motor obtained hybrid technology from Ssangyong using unlawful means. “The report is not true,” Ssangyong Motor said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. SAIC Motor’s hybrid technology is more developed than that of Ssangyong Motor and it is even considering seeking a technology transfer from SAIC Motor, the Korean company said.
■ FINANCE
Goldman forecasts drops
The US investment bank Goldman Sachs has lowered its forecasts for this year to 2010 for more than 40 European banks, warning on Friday that some of them may have to raise between 60 billion euros (US$94 billion) and 90 billion euros to shore up finances in the face of a nearly year-long credit crisis. Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note that European banks under their scrutiny had sustained asset write-downs of US$134 billion, offset by capital increases of about US$115 billion. “We believe that regulatory pressures and a sharp turn in the European credit cycle are the two main causes for concern for bank investors,” Goldman analysts said.
■ ENERGY
Efficient building underway
Renovations to a research institute will turn the facility into Singapore’s first zero-energy building, news reports said yesterday. Officials plan to cover the government-run BCA Academy with half a football field’s worth of solar panels. “Hopefully, with a little help from heaven, there won’t be too many rainy days,” the Straits Times quoted National University of Singapore Professor Lee Siew Eang (李修賢) as saying. The ultra-efficient institute is scheduled for completion next year, at the forefront of a drive to reduce power consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions in the city-state.
■ RESEARCH
ITRI marks 35th year
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) held a ceremony yesterday to mark the 35th anniversary of its founding, with Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) attending the event. Speaking at the gathering, Yiin lauded the ITRI for its contribution to Taiwan’s economic development over the past several decades and expressed the hope that the institute would work to “blend humanity and technology” in the future to become an “institute of wisdom” focusing its concerns on citizens, society and the environment, as well as industry.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).