Fubon, Cathay expand in China
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) received Beijing's approval to open more insurance offices in Asia's fastest-growing market.
Fubon's life insurance unit will set up a representative office in Beijing and its property insurance arm will open an office in Shanghai "as soon as possible," spokesman Jerry Kao said.
Cathay Financial said it received approval for an additional life insurance representative office in Chengdu and a property insurance office in Shanghai. Cathay's life insurance unit operates representative offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
No word on new apple imports
US apple growers got welcome news this week when Taiwan reopened its market to the fruit.
American apple imports were banned on Nov. 7 after a lone codling moth larvae was found in a shipment of Washington apples and another was found in a shipment from California.
"It's very good news to be back in that market," said Jonathan DeVaney of the Northwest Horticultural Council in Yakima, Washington, which deals in foreign trade issues.
But it's unclear when US apples will again reach Taiwan, since warehouses must begin packing under the new restrictions, he said.
Chen Ruey-long at US seminar
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-long (陳瑞隆) is in Wash-ington to attend a seminar on the proposed signing of a Taiwan-US free-trade agreement.
Chen is expected to take the opportunity of the symposium, organized by the Brookings Institute, to lobby the US to start talks on the signing of a bilateral free trade agreement as early as possible.
Insider trading claim at KGI
KGI Securities Thailand Pcl, a brokerage unit of the Koos Group (和信集團), is being probed for possible insider trading after its share price surged ahead of a board meeting, the Krungthep Thurakit newspaper reported.
The stock exchange will investigate whether the company's executives used confidential information to manipulate the share price, the paper said, citing unidentified official at the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Chunghwa cuts profit forecast
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said rising competition will cause 2003 profit to drop as much as 22 percent, a disclosure investors said may spoil a fifth attempt by the government to sell a stake in the company.
Net income may drop from an estimated NT$49.5 billion this year to NT$38.6 billion (US$1.1 billion), Chunghwa said in a report presented to the legislature. Sales will probably drop 3.5 percent to NT$186 billion as the company loses customers in urban areas to Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大) and other rivals.
UMC to supply Micronas
Micronas Semi-conductor Holding AG, a Zurich-based supplier of IC solutions for consumer and automotive electronics and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) will cooperate in the development of 0.13-micron mixed-mode technology, a UMC spokesman said yesterday.
Under a five-year agreement signed in June, UMC will be the principal supplier of mixed-mode ICs for Micronas, while Micronas will gain access to UMC's advanced technologies and foundry capacity, the spokesman said.
NT dollar rises slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.022 to close at NT$34.838 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$319 million, compared with the previous day's US$345 million.
Agencies
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”