Taiwan host to 96 multinationals
A total of 96 multinational enterprises have established operation centers in Taiwan and the number is estimated to rise to 600 by 2007, with a total investment of NT$1.25 trillion, Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), vice chairwoman of the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development, told lawmakers Tuesday.
Multinationals with revenues of more than NT$1 billion from their operations in Taiwan and which employ a monthly average of not less than 100 employees, while their overseas subsidiaries have revenues of more than NT$100 million, are qualified to apply to establish an operations center in Taiwan, Ho said.
If the target set for 2007 is achieved, the operation centers will create annual revenues of NT$743 billion and create 87,000 job opportunities, Ho predicted.
Money supply rose last month
Taiwan's money supply rose 2.86 percent in November from a year earlier, reversing six months of deceleration, as foreign capital inflow increased and gains in foreign exchange proceeds from overseas sales.
M2, the broadest measure of money supply, rose 2.86 percent from a year earlier, following a 2.52-percent increase in October, the central bank said in a statement. M2 measures currency in circulation, checking and savings accounts, and money-market funds.
Export orders increasing
The continued growth of export orders may help boost the nation's gross domestic product growth rate this year, an official at the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwan registered US$13.42 billion worth of export orders in November, an increase of 13.83 percent from a year earlier and the eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth, the ministry reported Tuesday.
Chang Yaw-tzong (張耀宗), director-general of the ministry's statistics department, said that the economic growth rate of 3.27 percent this year forecast by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) still has room for upward adjustment, due to the increase in export orders.
China may miss wheat target
China's wheat imports next year will probably fall short of the target pledged to the World Trade Organization as the government uses reserves to meet demand in the world's biggest grain market.
China's wheat imports in 2003 probably won't exceed the estimated 700,000 metric tons the government expects to import for this year, the trade ministry said in a report.
China this year pledged to import 8.5 million tons of wheat at a 1 percent preferential tariff rate. The import target will rise to 9.1 million tons next year.
Formosa to set up plant in China
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) plans to set up a tire plant in China at a cost of NT$2 billion (US$57.4 million), it was reported yesterday.
The plant would produce up to 20,000 tires a day to meet demand from the group's wholly-owned Formosa Automobile Corp (台塑汽車), which is expected to set up a joint venture with General Motors Taiwan next year, a local newspaper said.
Formosa Automobile produces two Daewoo Motor-designed models in Taiwan.
NT dollar down slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday continued to lose ground against its US counterpart amid light trading, falling NT$0.02 to close at NT$34.85 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$134 million, compared with the previous day's US$297 million.
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],”