Green light for October
The economy continued to gain momentum last month with economic indicators flashing a "green light" steady growth rate for a fourth consecutive month and perhaps signalling "slight overheating," official data showed yesterday. The index of leading indicators for last month came in at a 30-month high of 103.70 points, up 1.70 percent from September, said the Council for Economic Planning and Development. The composite indicator rose to 31.00 points last month from 29.00 in September, with both figures signaling a "green light" level pointing to steady economic growth, the council said. The council uses a five-tier system, with "blue" indicating recession, "yellow-blue" a slowdown, "green" steady growth, "yellow-red" slight overheating and "red" overheating. The council said there is a possibility for this month's composite indicator to show a "yellow-red light." "Such a prospect appears realistic thanks to a low comparative base last year and possible further improvement on the inventory and ... banking fronts," the council's Economic Research Department Director-General Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英) said.
Tatung talking to HP about TVs
Tatung Co (大同) said it may supply flat-panel televisions to Hewlett-Packard Co as the US computer company shifts to the consumer electronics business. "We have been talking," president Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山) said in an interview in Taipei, responding to newspaper reports that a contract has been signed. Hewlett-Packard will start shipments of flat TVs with screens measuring 17in and 20in diagonally in the first quarter next year, the report said. Tatung can't give more details because of a non-disclosure agreement with its customers, said executive vice president Kuo Wen-Yen (郭文豔), who is Lin's wife. Tatung is shipping flat TVs with screens as large as 30in to customers in the US, Japan and Europe, Lin said, declining to name them.
China Steel to raise Q1 prices
China Steel Corp (中鋼) said it plans to raise domestic prices for the first quarter to reflect higher global prices and rising raw material and transportation costs as the global economy recovers. The company plans to raise prices for six types of products with the size of the increases ranging from NT$111 a tonne (US$3.24) to NT$529 a tonne, it said in a statement, without giving current prices or comparative figures. The company will leave the price of electroplated-galvanized coils unchanged. China's steel demand has caused a shortage of almost all products and spurred an increase in prices, driving up costs of raw materials such as coal, metals, scrap steel and steel slabs, the company said.
Mitac forecasts sales boost
Mitac International Corp (神達), is expected to increase its sales this year by 60 percent to as much as NT$38 billion, company president Ho Chi-wu (何繼武) told a press conference on Wednesday while introducing the company's latest personal-digital-assistant products for the upcoming IT Month expo. With an anticipated growth in shipments of personal computers, servers and wireless communications products, Ho said the company projects next year's sales to rise to more than NT$50 billion.
NT hits three-month low
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday had its lowest close in three months amid investor concern over the legislation of a referendum bill. The currency weakened NT$0.04, or 0.1 percent, to close at NT$34.22 against its US counterpart on the Taipei foreign exchange market, its weakest close since Aug. 21. Turn-over was US$535.5 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],”
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
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