■SEMICONDUCTORS
NXP BV wants to go public
Dutch computer chip maker NXP BV said it would seek an initial public offering of its shares. In a press statement on Saturday, NXP says it has registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares, a preliminary step toward an IPO. NXP is the former chipmaking arm of Philips Electronics. Philips sold an 80.1 percent stake in NXP to a consortium of private investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co for 4.3 billion euros (US$6.3 billion) in August 2006. Since then, the company has slashed jobs and sold operations. NXP says it had 27,000 employees and sales of US$3.8 billion last year. The company has not yet set a target for the size of the share issue. NXP says it will use proceeds from the offering to cut debt.
■PERU
Trade surplus shoots up
The Andean country posted a trade surplus of US$798 million in February, up from US$271 million in the same month a year earlier because of higher prices for its key metals exports, the central bank said on Saturday. Exports during the second month of the year totaled US$2.67 billion, up 47 percent from February last year, the monetary authority said. Imports rose by a slower 21 percent to US$1.87 billion. “This increase in the trade surplus is due to high international prices for the main commodities,” the bank said in a statement. Peru is a leading global metals producer.
■TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Economy grows slightly
After four consecutive quarters of decline in the oil rich Caribbean nation’s economy, recent data from the country’s Central Bank point to slight growth in the country’s economy. The bank’s latest monetary policy report, which was published last week, suggests that “real GDP increased by 0.8 percent [year-on-year] in the last quarter of 2009.” The latest data showed “available indicators suggest that the small improvement in economic activity recorded in the last quarter of 2009 may have continued into the first quarter of 2010.” Growth for this year is projected at 2 percent. The recovery in the country’s economy is related almost entirely to the “improved output performance of the energy sector, particularly in petrochemicals and natural gas,” the report says.
■MINERALS
China could boost imports
China, the world’s largest zinc producer, could boost imports of the metal ore and concentrate as smelters expand, Li Xialin, vice president of Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co (深圳中金岭南公司), said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. China’s zinc producers could add 500,000 tonnes of smelting capacity this year and add 600,000 further next year, he said. The country’s total capacity was about 5 million tonnes at the end of last year.
■DUBAI
Market index declines
The Dubai Financial Market General Index declined 2.2 percent, the most since April 8, to 1,776.36 at 12:11pm in the emirate. Abu Dhabi’s measure lost 1.1 and Qatar’s gauge dropped 1 percent. Ahli Bank SAOG gained 1.5 percent, the most in almost a week, to 0.272 rial. The Omani provider of long-term loans for property construction and home purchases said first- quarter profit more than doubled to 3.15 million rials (US$8.2 million), the local bourse said in a statement yesterday.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
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