■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.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS