■MILITARY
Taiwan inks Lockheed deal
Lockheed Martin Corp received a US$665.6 million order from the Taiwanese government to upgrade 12 mothballed US Navy surveillance airplanes with new wings and make other improvements. The contract under the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales program is expected to be completed by August 2015, the US Department of Defense said on its Web site on Friday. Lockheed will refurbish the 12 P-3C maritime spy planes with new avionics and wings to extend the aircrafts’ life, company spokeswoman Tierney Helmers said in an interview. The Pentagon first notified US Congress about Taiwan’s request for the planes in September 2007.
■MARKETS
Delta may list in Taiwan
Delta Networks Inc (達創科技) may list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange after completing its delisting from Hong Kong by the end of the second quarter, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday, citing Bruce Cheng (鄭崇華), chairman of parent Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子). Delta Networks, a maker of communications equipment for customers including Alcatel Lucent and Nortel Networks, has offered to pay HK$1.83 a share for the 470.83 million shares, or 39.8 percent stake, it doesn’t own in order to make the firm private and then delist from the stock exchange, the company said in a filing on Thursday.
■MEDICAL
Novartis, NTUH sign deal
Novartis Taiwan Co signed a cooperation agreement with National Taiwan University Hospital on Friday on the establishment of a clinical research and development (R&D) center. Over the past few years, the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical group has commissioned the hospital to undertake 22 clinical experiments. The satisfactory results of those projects have prompted the company to decide to further strengthen cooperation with the hospital by setting up a joint clinical R&D center, said Alex Chang (張振武), country president of Novartis Taiwan. Under the new project, Novartis will introduce new clinical trials of drugs in Taiwan and explore the feasibility of developing new drugs for the treatment of cancers commonly diagnosed in Asia.
■ELECTRONICS
Creative cuts 300 jobs
Struggling Singaporean digital entertainment products maker Creative Technology is to cut 300 jobs globally, mostly in Europe and the US, the company said. It said in a statement late on Friday that there would be a restructuring charge of US$10 million for severance payments and headcount cost reductions in the current third quarter ending this month. The Singapore-listed firm has struggled to make inroads against Apple’s iconic iPod in the MP3 or digital music player market despite pumping in massive investments.
■REAL ESTATE
Home buyers sue Trump
Donald Trump is being sued by buyers who lost millions of dollars in deposits on a failed hotel-condo on Mexico’s Baja California shores. Attorney Bart Ring said on Friday that the 69 buyers he represents purchased 71 units in Trump Ocean Resort Baja. They paid deposits totalling between US$18 million and US$20 million. Buyers were told last month that the project was being scrapped and that their deposits would not be returned. The hotel was to be built in Tijuana, just across the border from California. The lawsuit accuses Trump of fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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