■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.
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
‘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
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
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