■GREEN BUSINESS
Buffet buys share of BYD
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to pay HK$1.8 billion (US$231 million) for a minority stake in BYD Co (比亞迪), China’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries. Berkshire Hathaway unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co will buy 225 million BYD shares, equivalent to a stake of about 10 percent, in the Shenzhen-based manufacturer, a statement issued yesterday. The partnership with MidAmerican would help BYD bring its electric vehicles and other environmental protection measures to the global market, Wang Chuanfu (王傳福), the Chinese company’s chairman, said in the statement. BYD aims to start selling gasoline-electric hybrid cars in the US as early as 2010, it said in January. It also plans to roll out its first all-electric auto in China next year.
■SHIPPING
Yang Ming launches ships
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Taiwan’s second-largest shipping line, launched two new container ships on Friday, increasing the number of vessels in its fleet to more than 100. Lu Feng-hai (盧峰海), chairman of Yang Ming, and Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆), chairman of CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) — the builder of the two ships — jointly presided over the launching ceremony for YM Upward and YM Enhancer at CSBC’s deep-water wharf in Kaohsiung. YM Upward can carry 4,250 containers, known as 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) , while YM Enhancer has a capacity for 8,241 TEUs.
■AIRLINE
Pilots agree to takeover
Pilots at Alitalia SpA gave their green light to a rescue plan for the Italian airline after nearly 15 hours of nonstop negotiations, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported yesterday. The pilots agreed to a takeover by a consortium of private investors after negotiating a reduction in sackings and manager contracts for captains. The agreement meant only Alitalia’s flight attendants union had yet to approve the deal designed to keep Italy’s flagship carrier from collapse. Talks were scheduled with that union tomorrow. Under plans for the takeover, the private investor group, the Italian Air Co, has demanded at least 3,000 jobs be cut.
■AUTO
Chrysler fires 250 workers
Chrysler LLC has resorted to firing 250 salaried workers in order to meet targeted job reductions as it shrinks its struggling US operations, the automaker said on Friday. “There are involuntary separations underway,” Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said. “It’s certainly very difficult. But we have to take these steps to ensure the long term financial health and competitiveness of the company.” The layoffs are part of a cost cutting plan announced in June that involved the elimination of 1,000 white-collar positions. The company said at the time that it hoped to eliminate the positions through buyouts and retirements.
■COMPUTERS
Apple unlocks iPhones in HK
Apple has started selling unlocked models of its popular iPhone 3G in Hong Kong that allow users the freedom to select the telecom provider of their choice. The eight gigabyte version was on sale yesterday at Apple’s online store for HK$5,400 (US$700), while the 16 gigabyte model was HK$6,200. Apple said the phone can be activated with any wireless carrier. The move is a shift from Apple’s previous strategy of tying the phone exclusively to a single mobile operator in each country or territory.
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
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).
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