Phison’s silicon wafer plan; Mandarin, Hokkien, the main lure

Pua: ‘The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country.’

Phison’s silicon wafer plan  
By DAVID TAN  davidtan@thestar.com.my

Its partner Silterra may produce essential components in Kulim

GEORGE TOWN: Phison Electronics Corp's partner Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd may undertake the production of silicon wafer in Kulim Hi-Tech Park for the flash memory chips to be developed and designed in Penang.

Phison chairman and chief executive officer Pua Khein-Seng told StarBiz that Silterra was now studying the feasibility of manufacturing the silicon wafer for the Phison's unit, which would be established in Penang in three to six months.

“The unit will undertake the development and design of flash memory applications and solution products. Our other partner, Index Diversified Sdn Bhd, will distribute and market them in the local and South-East Asia markets,” he said.

“The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country. We will decide on the volume of units to be produced six months later,” he added.

Pua also said that the investment of US$1mil to US$3mil would be for the salaries of engineers and purchasing the necessary equipment.

Also present were Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Silterra chief executive officer Dr Kamarulzaman Mohamed Zin, and Silterra Sales and Marketing (L) Ltd, Taiwan Branch senior vice-president Lai Yit Loong.

Lai said the flash memory product, which could be in the form secure-digital and smart cards, would be used in tablets, ultrabooks.

“The flash memory products will also be targeted for use in mobile payment platform and in video recorders for automobiles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lim said the importance of Phison's investment was that it would lead to talent and technology transfer to Penang.

“The Phison unit will likely be located on the island, and the state government will provide the necessary assistance for the group to establish its presence here,” Lim added.

Phison Electronics Corp was established in November 2000 at Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Starting with the world's first single-chip USB flash drive IC, Phison is now a market leader in NAND Flash controllers and applications including USB, SD, eMMC, PATA and SATA products.

In 2010, the company shipped over 500 million controllers worldwide and topped US$1bil in sales revenue.

Phison also offers system and OEM services for major retail brand names. Founded in November 1995 as Wafer Technology Malaysia Sdn Bhd and renamed as Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd in December 1999, the company offers complementary metalic oxide semiconductor design and a broad range of fabrication processes for integrated chips in advanced logic, mixed signal and radio frequency and high voltage applications.

The principal investor of Silterra is Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

  Mandarin; Hokkien, the main lure
 
By TAN SIN CHOW sctan@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: The Hokkien connection has once again put Penang in the limelight, albeit, this time on a positive note.

Taiwan-based Phison Engineering Corp has chosen to set up its first Malaysian branch in the state this year because the Hokkien dialect is widely used here.

According to its chairman and chief executive officer Pua Khein-Seng, who was raised in Sekinchan, Selangor, the Mandarin and Hokkien dialects were among the reasons for setting up their Malaysian unit in Penang.

Given a choice, the 38-year-old Malaysian said he would have chosen Kuala Lumpur as it was nearer to his hometown. “However, the move will not be viable as my working team from Taiwan only speaks Mandarin and Minnan (which is similar to Hokkien).

“I have a lot of engineers, some of them Malaysians, who do not have a strong command of English or Bahasa Malaysia as they have been based in Taiwan for far too long. They will not be able to survive in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is better for them to be here as the Chinese community here speaks Mandarin and Minnan,” he said during a question-and-answer session during his talk on “Driven to Success Road to Build a $1billion Company”.

Just last month, the Hokkien connection put Penang in the limelight when police busted a Taiwanese-led international Internet syndicate which had chosen the island as its base so that its members could blend in.

Pua said another plus point was the many well-trained engineers and industry players available here. “Here, materials are easily available from the semiconductor and electronics companies.”

Pua, who describes Malaysia as his motherland and Taiwan as his second home, is the inventor of the pen drive when he was only 27.

Phison was set up in November 2000 and within six months Pua had come up with the invention.

Related post:
 Taiwan's Phison IC design project, a 'brain gain' for Malaysia

WTO rules U.S. unfair subsidies for Boeing illegal

The U.S. is hailing a World Trade Organization ruling on illegal Boeing subsidies as a victory. (Roslan Rahman/AFP Reuters

The World Trade Organization has ruled that U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing received $3 billion to $4 billion in illegal subsidies in the form of federal research grants and local tax breaks, the top U.S. trade official said Monday.

But U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called the decision "a tremendous victory" for the United States because he said a separate WTO panel ruled last year that European governments provided $18 billion in subsidized funding for Airbus.

"It is now clear that European subsidies to Airbus are far larger -- by multiples -- and far more distortive than anything that the United States does for Boeing," Kirk said in a statement.

"The United States is ready to address all of the WTO findings, and we expect Europe to do the same. Airbus is a mature, highly capable company with ready access to commercial financing. It doesn't need the launch aid that European governments are continuing to provide," he added.

The WTO appellate body ruling on Monday faulted the United States for research funded by NASA and the Department of Defense that benefited Boeing and for tax breaks granted by the state of Washington and city of Wichita, Kansas.

The United States will have six months to comply with the ruling, once it is formally adopted this month, Kirk said.  

Appellate body rules unfair US subsidies have damaged rival Airbus

GENEVA: The World Trade Organisation has ordered the United States to halt unfair subsidies and tax breaks to planemaker Boeing, judging them to have damaged European rival Airbus.

The WTO's appellate body said that it found that certain subsidies and tax breaks “caused, through their effects on Boeing's prices, serious prejudice in the form of significant lost sales” to Airbus in the market for civil aircraft with 100 to 200 seats, according to a summary of the 700-page ruling.

That segment is for the medium-haul Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, which are their top selling aircraft.

It also found that research and development subsidies skewed competition for larger aircraft of 200 to 300 seats, and that such subsidies for the 787 Dreamliner “caused serious prejudice to the interest of the European Communities.” The United States has six months to comply with the ruling.

An Airbus A380 behind a Boeing 787 plane’s vertical tail. The WTO confirms that Boeing has received illegal subsidies, a decision that is seen as a victory by both the US aircraft maker and Airbus

 

Even before the publication of the WTO ruling, both the European Union (EU) and United States claimed victory in the dispute.

The EU had launched the complaint, claiming the United States gave Boeing billions of dollars in illegal subsidies after Washington had disputed EU aid to European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

In a ruling on March 31, 2011, the WTO partly upheld the EU complaint, but it was appealed.

The European Commission welcomed the WTO final ruling, saying it confirmed that billions of dollars in US subsidies to Boeing were illegal under WTO rules.

“The ruling vindicates the EU's long-held claims that Boeing has received massive US government hand-outs in the past and continues to do so,” said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

The United States took the opposite stand, saying the WTO decision confirmed that Europe's unfair trade subsidies to Airbus have dwarfed US aid to Boeing.

“This decision is a tremendous victory for American manufacturers and workers - and demonstrates the Obama administration's commitment to ensuring a level playing field for Americans,” Ron Kirk, the US Trade Representative, said in a statement before the WTO appeals panel published its findings.

“It is now clear that European subsidies to Airbus are far larger - by multiples - and far more distortive than anything that the United States does for Boeing,” he said.

The United States highlighted that the WTO had found last May in a separate case that the EU gave Airbus US$18bil (13.7 billion euros) in subsidised funding that resulted in lost market share and sales for Boeing.

“In yesterday's findings, the comparable figures (for Boeing) were between US$3bil and US$4bil in subsidies, and lost sales (for Airbus) of just slightly more than 100 aircraft,” the statement said.

The European Commission said the WTO appeal ruling found that Boeing received between US$5bil and US$6bil of illegal subsidies between 1989 and 2006, and was estimated to have received US$3.1bil more since.

Airbus said the WTO ruling found the effects of the illegal funding were much larger.

“The report confirms the existence of illegal US subsidies to Boeing previously identified by the WTO as at least US$5.3bil' and extended by billions of US dollars as a result of yesterday's decision - resulting in an estimated loss of approximately US$45bil in sales for Airbus,” the company said in a statement. AFP

Aging Parents, Embattled Kids: Can You Find Pain Relief?

By Carolyn Rosenblatt, Forbes Contributor

This is a real situation.

Three brothers are engaged in pitched battle over their mother’s living situation.  Mom is severely demented and can’t care for herself independently. She had long term care insurance, but she has almost exhausted that benefit.  Her only remaining asset is her home.  She needs full time care.

The eldest brother, James, seized power over her finances from the middle brother, Paul.  He got mom to appoint him the power of attorney and the agent on the healthcare directive, and displaced Paul, who had always been on both documents . Mom wasn’t competent to sign anything when she did, but James didn’t seem to care.  That infuriated Paul.  Little brother Joe is somewhat passive, but sides with Paul.

The three never got along very well, even as kids. There was a lot of arguing and their communication did not improve as they grew up. They largely avoided one another. Until now.

James decided, without communicating with either of his brothers, to move mom to an assisted living facility that takes care of people with dementia.  She would have her own room. It would be in her neighborhood. Her house would be sold to pay for it.  A deposit was paid.

When Paul heard of this, he became enraged, told Joe and they both threatened to sue James.   In response, James found a lawyer and began guardianship proceedings.  There is no money in mom’s checking account to pay the lawyer, so James promised the attorney that she could get paid when the house was sold.  It’s a nice home.

Mom’s long time estate attorney suggested mediation.  She urged the siblings to stop upsetting their mom and each other by using a neutral person to help them try to reach some agreements.  This sounds like a good solution, doesn’t it?  They could meet with the mediator,  and see if they could figure out a way to be more civil to each other around the move for mom. They definitely needed help to work toward a less aggravating future for each other caring for their mom.

James refused to go to mediation.

The guardianship proceeds apace.  Thousands of dollars will be needlessly wasted on the litigation,  James against Paul and Joe.  The brothers will become ever more acrimonious and the story will not end well during mom’s final days.

As a mediator for families in conflict, I can only say that this story keeps repeating itself in different forms.  It’s frustrating for me, as I know that in most instances, mediation of family conflicts about elders can really help and it is quite often successful.  The hard thing to understand is why wouldn’t the Jameses of the world want to give it a try?  Is it the power they yield?  Is it control over their siblings via legal documents and court cases?

Certainly, the cost of mediation can’t be the reason to refuse it.  It is far, far less expensive than just about any court proceeding.  If siblings are scattered, as in James, Paul and Joe’s case, mediation can even be done over the phone. You can’t make anyone do it though. It’s voluntary.

A factor at play is James’s attorney’s motive in handling the guardianship proceedings. Lots of money is at stake if the litigation keeps going.  She can rake it in when that house sells.  If she agrees to go to mediation with Paul, and the siblings settle their differences, there goes her paycheck.  If you don’t think some lawyers want to keep conflict alive and churning for their own selfish sakes, think again.

What’s the takeaway here?

Mediation works.  Think about it if your family is in conflict over an aging parent.  Here’s an illustrative quick video http://agingparents.com/wp/about-carolyn-l-rosenblatt-r-n-attorney-at-law/ (scroll to bottom of the page).

It is a dignified way to resolve your differences without a court. No one judges you. You work it out as you choose, not how anyone else tells you to do it.

After my 27 years as a litigator, I can tell you firsthand that in so many instances, no one feels very satisfied when you’re done with litigation.

Some of us call ourselves “elder mediators”. We work in this arena of warring families and parents. It’s not therapy. It’s short term problem solving.  I encourage those who are feeling the heartbreak of scenes like the one above to find a mediator and get going.  There is hope, even when it seems impossible.  You can make it better.

Until next time,

AgingParents.com
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