TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The founder and chairman of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) announced late last month that he plans to resign from the world's second-largest contract chip maker because of a dispute with the Taiwanese government, which he said is meddling in his company's business affairs.
Robert Tsao's planned resignation is the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between UMC and the government of Taiwan over alleged illegal investments by the company in Chinese chip maker He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co.
UMC ran afoul of Taiwanese regulators in February, when police raided its offices in Taipei and Hsinchu and detained a number of Taiwanese employees of He Jian. The government has been gathering evidence that UMC invested in He Jian without applying for permission to do so. That is illegal in Taiwan, which carefully controls investments in China's semiconductor industry.
In a statement, Tsao said he will resign at a meeting of UMC's board in March and hand over the chairmanship to Jackson Hu, the company's CEO.
Indian IT units oversee offshore development
BANGALORE, India -- CIOs at the Indian operations of multinational companies are increasingly managing software development, outsourcing and other IT work for their corporate parents.
For example, Pfizer Inc.'s Mumbai-based Indian subsidiary is working with outsourcing companies in India to develop systems for Pfizer entities worldwide, said Arun Gupta, the unit's senior director of business technology. "We are actually creating a lot of systems and standards which will be used by Pfizer globally," Gupta said.
Deutsche Bank AG's technology and operations group in India manages the Frankfurt-based bank's outsourcing of software development and its business process outsourcing activities, said Arindam Banerrji, managing director and CIO at the Indian operation.
Sanjay Handu, director of strategic sourcing at Tyco Electronics Corp.'s subsidiary in Pune, said corporate officials are evaluating whether the Indian unit should manage software development and services for the entire Harrisburg, Pa.-based company.
Sales gains seen for Taiwanese hardware
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The value of IT hardware products built in Taiwan grew by an estimated 10.5 percent during 2005, to $77 billion U.S., and it is expected to increase by an even larger percentage this year, according to Market Intelligence Center (MIC), a market research company based here.
MIC predicted that the total value of hardware products produced by Taiwanese companies will reach $85.6 billion this year, a gain of 11.2 percent over the 2005 level. The research firm said that the increased sales will come mostly from low-cost products and from business in emerging markets.
Taiwanese companies make 82.4 percent of the world's notebook computers and 98.3 percent of all motherboards, MIC said.
Briefly noted
-- T-Systems International GmbH, the IT services unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, has agreed to buy Volks-wagen AG's IT consulting unit for an undisclosed price. Berlin-based Gedas AG employs 5,500 workers, about two-thirds of them outside of Germany. Volkswagen also signed a seven-year, 2.5-billion-euro ($3 billion U.S.) contract calling for T-Systems to provide it with IT services after the sale is completed.
-- Samsung Electronics Co. last week started commercial production of LCD display panels at a factory in Tangjung, South Korea, four months ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, rival LG Philips LCD Co. began production at a facility in Paju.
-- Business Objects SA has hired an executive to expand its professional services group and develop more business intelligence services offerings tailored for vertical industries. Mark Doll, previously a partner at consulting firm Ernst & Young, was named vice president of professional services by Paris-based Business Objects. He will be based at the company's San Jose office.
Global fact
51 percent
-- Percentage of online banking customers in the U.K. who are interested in using cell phones for mobile banking.
Source: Forrester Research Inc., Cambridge, Mass.