■ Copyrights
Movie studios sue Samsung
Walt Disney Co, Time Warner Inc and three other movie studios sued Samsung Electronics Co, saying the company's DVD players allow consumers to circumvent encryption features that prevent unauthorized duplication. Technicians for the studios could disable the piracy prevention feature on the DVD players by pressing a sequence of numbers on the remote control, the studios said in a complaint filed on Friday in federal court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit demands a recall of all Samsung DVD players that allow copy-protection features to be disabled. Piracy cost the movie industry about US$5.4 billion in sales last year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The other studios bringing the lawsuit are Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios.
■ Shipping
Evergreen lifts profit target
Evergreen Group (長榮集團) is targeting a record NT$15 billion (US$463 million) pre-tax profit this year, the Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times reported, citing company president Arnold Wang (王龍雄). The company raised shipment charges by more than US$100 per container from April and may raise them further in May should demand remain strong, the newspaper reported. Wang's comments are aimed at rebuffing a Morgan Stanley report saying it cut its recommendation and earning estimates for four Asia-based shipping lines including Evergreen, citing a decline in the fee for moving sea freight, the newspaper said.
■ Marketing
TAITRA to throw light on EU
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) will invite experts with marketing experience in Europe to a seminar on Feb. 21 to help Taiwanese enterprises better understand European markets and the possible challenges, a TAITRA official said yesterday. As the EU's directives on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) will come into force on July 1, TAITRA will also invite an adviser from the Electric-Electronic and Environmental Technology Development Association and representatives of the French Geodis Group, which ranks among the top five European transport and logistic firms, to offer advice to local firms on how to comply with the ROHS directives and to boost their competitiveness.
■ Credit
Co-ops' loan ratio drops
The overdue loan ratio of the 278 credit cooperatives operated by farmers' and fishermen's associations nationwide declined to 10.92 percent as of the end of December last year, according to tallies released yesterday by the Council of Agriculture. The ratio was 0.94 percentage points lower than that registered at the end of the previous month and 3.54 percentage points lower than that of the same time the previous year, the tallies show. The overdue loans amounted to NT$65 billion (US$2 billion) as of the end of December last year, down NT$4.9 billion over the same time in 2004. As of the end of December, the assets of the credit cooperatives amounted to NT$1.57 trillion, down NT$5.4 billion over November last year. The net asset value amounted to NT$82.3 billion, down NT$2.8 billion from November. The deposit balance totaled NT$1.36 trillion, up NT$10.7 billion from the previous month, while the loan balance totalled NT$594.9 billion, up NT$5.9 billion from the previous month.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) halted shipments to a customer this month after its semiconductors were sent to China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), potentially breaching US sanctions, a government official said. The US slapped sanctions on Huawei in 2019, and expanded them the following year, over fears its technology could be used for Beijing’s espionage operations. The restrictions prevent TSMC from selling semiconductors to Huawei. However, TSMC discovered on Oct. 11 that chips made for a “specific customer” had ended up with the Chinese company, a Taiwanese official with knowledge of the incident said on the condition of anonymity. TSMC “immediately activated
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
Shares of Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) surged more than 53 percent on its debut on the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday. Starlux shares closed up 53.75 percent at NT$30.75 from its initial public offering price of NT$20 after retreating in late trading from a 60 percent rise. China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) rose 0.90 percent to close at NT$22.35, while EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) gained 0.40 percent to close at NT$37.70. In Taiwan, a newly listed stock is allowed to go beyond the 10 percent maximum increase or decline in its first five trading sessions. At the listing ceremony, Starlux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) said
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