■INSURANCE
Nan Shan customers flee
American International Group’s (AIG) Taiwanese life insurance unit said customers terminated about NT$20 million (US$624,025) in policies this week after the New York-based company agreed to give up a 79.9 percent stake in return for a bailout. The unit is operating as normal, April Pan (潘玲嬌), a spokeswoman at Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), 95 percent owned by AIG, said yesterday. Nan Shan’s premium income was NT$255.7 billion for the fiscal year ended on Nov. 30, last year, Pan said. Nan Shan has total assets of NT$1.5 trillion, 23 branches and more than 380 agency offices as of the end of July, according to the company’s Web site.
■FINANCE
Lehman fallout limited
China Construction Bank (中國建設銀行), one of the country’s four largest banks, revealed it has a US$191.4 million exposure to Lehman Brothers and said it was not expected to have a “significant impact.” In a statement on its Web site on Friday, the Chinese bank announced that it and its subsidiaries held US$141.4 million in senior bonds from the collapsed US investment bank and US$50 million in subordinated bonds. The bonds represented 0.019 percent of the net assets of the banking group, it said. “It is expected that the Lehman Brothers event will not have any significant impact on the financial position of the bank,” the bank said.
■COMPUTERS
Apple recalls adapters
Apple said on Friday it would replace power adapters sold with its popular iPhone 3G mobile telephones because of a risk prongs could snap and cause people to be jolted by electricity. “We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported,” the California company said on a Web page providing adapter exchange details. The part Apple is offering to replace is an “Ultracompact USB power adapter” reportedly included with iPhone 3G models sold in Japan, Canada, Mexico, the US and a half dozen South American countries. Instructions for getting Apple adapters replaced were online at www.apple.com.
■ELECTRONICS
Philips to boost margins
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics, plans to boost margins by ending losses at the television unit and raising prices, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gerard Kleisterlee said. The “overarching” goal is to more than double earnings before interest, tax and amortization per share by 2010, the CEO said in an interview at Philips headquarters in Amsterdam. “The primary goal is doubling Ebita per share and all the other elements are means to an end,” Kleisterlee said.
■ENERGY
Venezuela inks gas accords
Venezuela signed accords with private companies from more than a half-dozen countries on Friday, launching a major push into natural gas projects that are expected to bring some US$19.6 billion in joint investment. State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA signed eight agreements to develop offshore natural gas deposits with US-based Chevron Corp, Russia’s Gazprom, Italy’s Eni SpA, Portugal’s GALP Energia, Qatar Petroleum, Malasyia’s Petronas, Argentina’s Enarsa and the Japanese companies Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Itochu Corp. Officials expect joint investment over the next eight years to hit some US$19.6 billion, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters.
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
EARLY TALKS: Measures under consideration include convincing allies to match US curbs, further restricting exports of AI chips or GPUs, and blocking Chinese investments US President Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under former US president Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, people familiar with the matter said. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the US
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
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