Monday, November 30, 2009

End of Taiwan Memory?

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan (the national legislative assembly) has cut off further support for Taiwan Innovation Memory Corporation (formerly Taiwan Memory Corporation). However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) does not seem to be completely giving up on this project since the cut-off applies to funding for next year. As the prices look better than they did in the recent past, the MoEA may find it very hard to pursue its plan of gobbling up failing memory makers on the cheap, without or without new funds from the legislature.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Richard Chang's Exit: Quick Note

Rumors are flying fast around Richard Chang's departure from SMIC. Some claim that Chang's departure was required by TSMc as part of the deal to end TSMC's lawsuit against SMIC. Others speculate that bringing in David NK Wang means that SMIC will merge with another firm. Would that firm be HuaHong? I'll be back more with more in a few days after reading all the tea leaves.