SHIPPING
Chairman tipped to change
Former Evergreen Group (長榮集團) vice chairman Bronson Hsieh (謝志堅) is expected to become the new chairman of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), replacing Frank Lu (盧峰海), local media reported yesterday. Yang Ming Marine Transport, the nation’s second-largest container shipper in terms of fleet size, is likely to hold a board meeting today to approve Hsieh’s appointment, reports said, citing government sources. Yang Ming Marine Transport reported a net loss of NT$7.72 billion (US$239.6) last year, or NT$2.24 in losses per share, with total sales of NT$127.56 billion. Hsieh worked at Evergreen Group for more than 40 years before stepping down from his position earlier this year.
FOOD
UPE names new president
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (UPE, 統一企業), one of Taiwan’s leading food makers, yesterday elected the head of its Chinese subsidiary to serve as its president in a potential move to take over the reins from chairman Alex Lo (羅智先). The board of directors yesterday elected Hou Jung-lung (侯榮隆), president of Uni-President China Holding Co (UPC, 統一中控), to serve as the company’s new president with immediate effect, UPE said in a statement. Hou, 52, has been UPC's president since 2001.
HEALTH
Former premier to head IBMI
The government-funded Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI, 生技醫療產業策進會) yesterday announced it had appointed former premier Simon Chang (張善政) as its new chairman, replacing Chen Wei-jao (陳維昭). Chang is to have a four-year tenure as IBMI chairman. The non-profit organization also elected National Taiwan University president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) as vice chairman, along with the selection of 27 new directors and nine new supervisors. IBMI was established in 1988 by former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who served as chairman for its first eight years.
SOLAR WAFERS
GW dividend approved
GlobalWafers Co Ltd (GW, 環球晶圓) yesterday obtained shareholders’ approval to distribute a cash dividend of NT$5 per share based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$5.8 per share. GlobalWafers, a subsidiary of solar wafer maker Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (中美矽晶), said it has maintained steady growth in sales since the fourth quarter of last year thanks to better-than-expected demand for small and medium-sized wafers. However, cumulative sales dropped 7.44 percent to NT$6.21 billion for the first five months of this year from the same period last year, company data showed.
PANELMAKERS
CPT heads apologize
Flat-panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管) chairman Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山) and president Lin Sheng-chang (林盛昌) yesterday apologized to shareholders over years of losses and said that high-ranking executives had taken a voluntary salary cut of between 10 and 20 percent from last month. To boost its efforts to turn the results around, the company said it would shift its focus to niche products, such as those used in the automotive items and industrial control segments, as well as to dispose of unprofitable affiliates and assets.
CEMENT
TCC remains cautious
Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥), the nation’s biggest cement maker, yesterday said it remains cautious about its business outlook for the near term after reporting a sharp decline in eanings per share of NT$1.56 for last year from NT$2.93 a year earlier. While the company secured shareholders’ approval to issue a cash dividend of NT$1.33 per share, Taiwan Cement dismissed market rumors that it would seek a merger with Asia Cement Corp (亞洲水泥) to help it compete in China.
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
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
BIG INVESTMENT: Hon Hai is building the world’s largest assembly plant for servers based on Nvidia Corp’s state-of-the-art AI chips, Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said The construction of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) massive artificial intelligence (AI) server plant near Guadalajara, Mexico, would be completed in a year despite the threat of new tariffs from US President Donald Trump, Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is investing about US$900 million in what would become the world’s largest assembly plant for servers based on Nvidia Corp’s state-of-the-art GB200 AI chips, Lemus said. The project consists of two phases: the expansion of an existing Hon Hai facility in the municipality of El Salto, and the construction of a
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