Hoya Corp opens new plant
Japan-based Hoya Corp, the world's largest supplier of optical glass to the semiconductor industry, on Monday inaugurated a new plant in the Hsinchu Science Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) to make photomasks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Photomasks are glass plates containing patterns of a microchip's circuitry. This component is used to produce liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Hoya will initially invest NT$200 million in making photomasks to meet the increasing demand from local LCD manufacturers, the ministry said in a statement. The investment will reach NT$1.5 billion in the next few years, the statement added. As local LCD makers are planning to build fifth-generation flat panel factories, Hoya will also produce photomasks used for large-sized thin-film transistor LCDs (TFT-LCD) in the second half of next year, the statement said.
RBS target budget hotels
The popular Retail Booking System (RBS) called a news conference yesterday in Taipei to attract domestic economy and budget hotels to its worldwide Internet booking service. The system provides backpackers with greater access to more economic options for online hotel bookings, an RBS executive said. Almost all five-star hotels in Taiwan are part of the RBS, and the system now is hoping to seek small and medium-sized hotels to offer foreign customers more short-term accommodation on the Internet, the RBS official said. Lai Seh-jen (賴瑟珍), deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, said the RBS offers an effective channel for Taiwan's economy hotels and youth hostels to sharpen their international distribution, particularly among the many young and individual backpackers who are the prevailing force in the global tourism market.
China Life to support affiliate
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) said it will support an attempt by affiliate KGI Securities Co (中信證券) to secure seats on the board of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing a China Life official. The Taiwanese insurer also urged China Development unit China Development Industrial Bank (中華開發銀行) not to use its 7.1 percent stake in the parent to support management, the report said. The report didn't say how many seats KGI is seeking. KGI holds more than 200 million shares, or 2 percent, in China Development, the newspaper said. China Development, Taiwan's fifth-largest financial services company by market value, is scheduled to hold a shareholders meeting on April 5 to elect a new board. Investors must acquire shares by Feb. 6 to vote. The government plans to ban financial holding companies from using cross-shareholdings with units to keep control of the parent, Finance Minister Lin Chuan (林全) said on Thursday.
Rumors of big buying
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), Taiwan's third-largest financial company by market value, said it wants to buy International Investment Trust Co (國際投信), an asset-management company, a Chinese-language newspaper said on Friday. The paper said Mega will pay cash for closely held International Investment Trust.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.007 to close at NT$34.052 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$413 million.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last