Taipei's Hsinyi District is expected to become a hotspot for fitness centers, with three local health club chains developing a total of 5,000 ping (1,512m2) to lure gym-goers.
Youth Camp Co (
Youth Camp hopes to upgrade its brand image by renting space in the 508m-high skyscraper.
"We've spent NT$250 million on equipment and interior decoration," said Tsai Chu-chen (蔡純真), chairwoman of Youth Camp, at the signing ceremony.
"We believe our appearance in the building will lead Youth Comp to a global level," Tsai said.
Youth Camp opened its first gym in 1977. It now operates 24 gyms nationwide and has 230,000 members. The company generated NT$120 million in sales last year.
Its Taipei 101 Oxy Gym, which is yet to be completed, is expected to open its doors for business on Nov. 14.
While the company has been positioning itself as a premium health club and plans to have only 3,000 members with an annual membership fee of NT$126,000 per person, it faces fierce competition in the Hsinyi District.
But Tsai said she is optimistic about the business prospects.
"It would be a piece of cake to lure 3,000 members from the estimated 12,000 employees working in the financial building," Tsai said.
She added that the local fitness center market generated about NT$10 billion in sales last year, and the number is expected to double within the next few years.
"It has become a trend for more and more people to pay attention to their health or to shape their figures," Tsai explained.
Alexander Health Club (亞歷山大俱樂部) has already set up a 2,000 ping (605m2) gym in the district's Neo 19 entertainment center. This gym was opened in 2000.
"Most people working in the Hsinyi District work out regularly, and therefore our [Hsinyi] store is very popular," said Eva Yang (
During daily peak hours or between 7pm and 11pm, as well as weekends, the center is always packed, she added.
"We are considering opening another fitness center in Hsinyi District sometime next year to meet growing demand," Yang said.
Entering the market in 1992, Alexander has 23 fitness centers around the nation with some 200,000 members.
Taiwan's largest food-and-beverage maker, Uni-President Enterprises Corp (
In May, Uni-President spent NT$50 million to acquire a 50 percent stake of Being Co (
"We plan to set up a new flagship center in the complex owned by Uni-President on Hsinyi District's Keelung Road," said Being's marketing manager Annie Chang (張富婷).
The proposed project is expected to be completed in two to three years, she added.
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],”