Makro to close two outlets
The Makro Taiwan Ltd (萬客隆) announced yesterday that it will shut down two outlets, one in Tainan and one in Kaohsiung, local TVBS reported, citing a marketing manager from the store surnamed Wang.
He said the closures, which are expected to affect about 200 workers, is part of the company's business streamlining plan.
Makro, a joint venture between Taiwan's Feng Chun Group (豐群集團) and the Holland-based company, opened its doors in Taiwan 14 years ago. Following the closures, Makro will have six outlets remaining in Taiwan.
TSMC waits for the Cabinet
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the Cabinet will make a decision in early February whether it will allow Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build a chip plant in China.
During a news briefing yesterday, Yu said that there's been no change in the government's plan to allow the chipmaker to invest in China. But because TSMC needs to provide more information to supplement its investment application, the government has to take added time to review the proposal, he said.
CAL seeks China's approval
China Airlines Co (華航) said yesterday it had submitted an application with China's aviation authorities to provide indirect chartered-flight services between Shanghai and Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday.
China Airlines spokesman Roger Han (韓梁中) confirmed that the carrier has filed the application with the Civil Aviation Administration of China but declined to give further details, such as the date of the flight, on the grounds that the application is still awaiting approval by Beijing.
Other air carriers including EVA Airways (長榮), Far East Air Transport (遠東), TransAsia Airways (復興), UNI Airways (立榮) and Mandarin Airlines (華信), were tight-lipped on their application plans.
CPC may boost gas prices
State-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) said there's room for the company to raise petroleum prices, Chairman Kuo Chin-tsai (郭進財) told lawmakers Wednesday.
Kuo said the company will be closely watching the world oil market after prices surged to US$31.97 per barrel, a 23-month high, this week.
Concerns over a strike in Venezuela, a major oil producer, and the threat of a US invasion of Iraq, are sources of concern for Chinese Petroleum, he said.
Taiwan rules notebook market
Taiwan companies will account for 62 percent of world's notebook PC production this year, a local newspaper said, citing output targets of local makers.
The two largest suppliers, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), which will made more than half of Taiwan's notebook computers this year, plan to increase output next year to 12.5 million units from this year's 9.5 million, the report said.
Quanta and Compal share Dell Computer Corp, Hewlett Packard Co and Acer Inc as customers, while Quanta also supplies NEC Corp and Compal supplies Toshiba Corp, the report said.
NT declines against US dollar
The New Taiwan dollar traded weaker against its US counterpart yesterday, amid a thin trading. The local currency dropped NT$0.018 against the greenback to close at NT$34.868 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$270 million, compared with the previous day's US$134 million.
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