■FINANCE
Fubon Life to invest in TMC
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said on Friday its life insurance unit would buy 80 million shares, or a 7.27 stake, in Taiwan Memory Co (TMC, 台灣創新記憶體公司) for NT$800 million (US$24.8 million). The company said it planned to raise funds for Fubon Life Insurance Co’s (富邦人壽) long-term investment in TMC in the fourth quarter of this year, but did not say how. In July, TMC registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ commerce department with an initial capital of NT$500,000. The government-backed memory chipmaker is expected to initially raise NT$11 billion in funds from public and private investors. Besides Fubon Life, TMC has secured investments from chip-testing and packaging firms Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and King Yuan Electronics Co Ltd (京元電子).
■TECHNOLOGY
Ballmer to visit Taipei
Microsoft Corp CEO Steve Ballmer will host a technology forum, dubbed “3 Screens and a Cloud,” in Taipei early next month, the company said on Friday. It will be Ballmer’s first visit to Taiwan after taking over Bill Gates as the company’s chief executive. During the forum, Ballmer is expected to share the company’s view on corporate strategies to remain competitive in the tech arena and how the Cloud platform would facilitate seamless Internet connection via handsets, PCs, TVs and other devices. Ballmer also plans to visit Microsoft’s local partners and to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary.
■FINANCE
PRC to launch ChiNext
China will launch its long-awaited NASDAQ-style ChiNext board in Shenzhen on Friday, state media reported yesterday. Shang Fulin (尚福林), chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, announced the start date of the growth enterprise market at a forum in Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported. The first batch of 28 companies will make their debut on Friday, Xinhua said. Regulators hope the new market will help fuel start-ups and other companies with high-growth potential in the world’s third-largest economy, following the example of Wall Street’s Nasdaq.
■AVIATION
JAL seeking partners
Struggling Japan Airlines (JAL) is seeking a tie-up with low-cost carriers for its Asian operations, the Asahi Shimbun said yesterday. JAL, looking for another public bailout to keep flying, is putting together an emergency turnaround plan under the supervision of a government task force. In its cost-cutting efforts, JAL will expand code-sharing operations with budget carriers in Asia, replacing its less profitable flights for tourist destinations, such as Hawaii, Thailand and Indonesia, Asahi said. The move would enable JAL to focus on more profitable business flights to North America, Europe and China, the daily said without citing sources.
■TELECOMS
CEO not quitting over deaths
The CEO of France Telecom, who is under fire for continued suicides among company employees, said he would not resign. Didier Lombard said in an interview in Le Figaro yesterday that a captain couldn’t abandon the ship in a storm. He said he must ensure that France Telecom becomes a “human and prosperous” enterprise. His term runs until 2011. Le Figaro quoted him as saying he was “aghast” at the latest suicide. The company said on Thursday that an employee at its research and development center in Brittany had committed suicide at his home — the 25th in 18 months.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
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
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
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