■ 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Harris Wang (王華宇) as saying that Mandarin Airlines has leased eight E-190/195 jets from Embraer to replace its outdated Fokker-50 and Fokker-100s.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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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