While several financially troubled state-run companies are considering axing staff and streamlining operations, one seldom-mentioned government company -- Taiwan Salt Industrial Corp (
"In researching new salt production technologies, we have also developed a series of health and beauty products, which we market in Hong Kong. We hope to also be selling such products in the US in September," the company's chairman, Yu Kuang-hwa (
The company's sea-salt products include shampoo, bath gel, facial cleanser and toothpaste. The secret ingredient found in all of the company's products is salt.
"An estimated NT$25 million to NT$30 million in revenue has been generated by our health and beauty products every month since they were launched in the domestic market late last year," Yu said. "We expect to see an annual revenue of NT$350 million from the sales of these products."
Taiwan Salt has become a model company after it began diversifying beyond its core business nearly 10 years ago, said Lin Wen-yuan (
"If Taiwan Salt had stuck to its core business [of salt making], then it would not have achieved such success," Lin said.
The traditional salt-maker was originally established in 1952 as the Taiwan Salt Works.
Robert Jan (詹壽全), president of JWL Enterprise Co Ltd (泛豐企業), which is a Taipei-based distributor for Taiwan Salt's latest products, said he is confident that the company's new line of products will fare well. The near-term annual sales target for Hong Kong market has been set at NT$100 million, he said.
Jan indicated he was slightly concerned about collaborating with a state-run company, many of which are known for their lack of flexibility in business maneuvering, as well as poor marketing and advertising capabilities.
Apart from salt-related products, the company is now building a collagen biomaterial plant at the Tainan Science Technology Industrial Park (台南科技工業區), Wang Chih-hang (王志漢), president of Taiwan Salt, said yesterday.
About one quarter of all of the protein in the human body is collagen. Collagen is a major structural protein, forming "molecular cables" that strengthen the tendons and vast, resilient sheets that support the skin and internal organs.
The plant is scheduled to be completed by December, with commercial production set to begin by in early 2002, he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day