China National Petroleum Corp (中國石油天然氣) topped all enterprises in the Greater China area as the highest profit-generating company with NT$196.1 billion in after-tax earnings last year, according to the Chinese-language Business Weekly (商業週刊) yesterday.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (
"Ever since its privatization, Chunghwa Telecom Co has been making a good showing," said Terry Cheng (
Cheng also praised Hong Kong companies, saying "the international city's strategically important position has helped it to develop [its economy]."
With all three Chinese companies listed in the top 10 being state-owned, Taiwan's Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (
But post-WTO challenges will arise soon to change the economical landscape, he warned.
"In five years, these companies may have to face severe competition after China opens up its market in accordance with WTO agreements," Yiin said
"And we may then see a completely different list of companies," the official said.
According to the magazine's report, of 1,000 companies in the Greater China area, 457 companies or 45.7 percent are from China, while 323 companies or 33.3 percent are from Taiwan and 210 are from Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong companies will continue to gain strength since they are the most internationalized and closest to the China market," Yiin said.
In terms of yearly revenue, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom and Hon Hai Precision Industries Co (鴻海精密) are ranked as the No. 7 and No. 8 companies, respectively, with the highest revenue last year. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Nan Ya Plastic Corp (南亞塑膠) occupy the 11th, 15th and 20th spots, respectively.
"Hon Hai's success lies in the leadership style of chairman Terry Kuo (郭台銘), who once told me that while their clients are first-tier, their management and staff may be second- and third-tier," Cheng said at yesterday's presentation.
In order to build up international competitiveness, Yiin urged Taiwanese companies to focus on their core competence before extending into other business fields.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained