Current-account surplus narrows
The current-account surplus was little changed in the fourth quarter as exports surged to a record high.The surplus, the broadest measure of the flow of goods and services, narrowed 1.6 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter to US$7.8 billion, the central bank said in a statement.The surplus reached an all-time high of US$7.9 billion in the final quarter of last year. The surplus on the financial account, which measures investment flows, turned to an inflow of US$4.5 billion from an outflow of US$4.2 billion.
China investment rising
Taiwanese companies increased their investment in China 10.2 percent last month as companies expanded factories there, the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission said on its Web site. Approved investment by Taiwanese companies increased to US$502 million from US$455 million the same month a year earlier, the commission said. Investment by Taiwanese companies in China increased to US$4.59 billion last year from US$3.86 billion in 2002, the commission said earlier.
Formosa Plastics aims higher
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) said it expects profit and sales to be higher this year on demand for the chemicals that are used to make plastic bottles, pipes and other goods. "The plastics and petrochemicals industry this year will be quite good," senior vice president Huang Tsung-jin (黃宗敬) said in Taipei. The company will give its specific forecast after its board of directors' meeting on Wednesday, Huang said. Formosa Plastics' net income for last year rose 54 percent to NT$15.2 billion from a year earlier, according to the company's unaudited figures last month, helped by a gain from the sale of shares in an oil-refining unit and a recovery in plastics chemicals demand. Sales rose to NT$84.5 billion from NT$65.7 billion.
Far EasTone to issue new shares
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation's third-largest mobile phone operator, said its board agreed to issue NT$20.8 billion worth of new shares to buy smaller rival KG Telecommunications Co (和信電訊). Far EasTone will issue 693.5 million shares, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. The stock closed yesterday at NT$30. The company announced last October that it had agreed to buy KG Telecommunications for NT$29.8 billion. It said it would offer KG Telecommunications shareholders about 806 million shares, worth NT$18.1 billion at the closing price on Oct. 7, and NT$11.7 billion in cash.
Bank takeover planned
King's Town Construction Co (京城建設) chairman Tsai Tien-tsan (蔡天贊) said he has bought more than 10 percent of Tainan Business Bank (台南企銀) and plans to take over the lender, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing Tsai. Tsai wants to complete the acquisition this year, as his takeover plan is supported by some of the bank's major investors, the newspaper reported. The bank is scheduled to elect a new board next year, the report added.
NT dollar slides
The New Taiwan dollar closed down NT$0.041 at NT$33.220 against the US dollar yesterday on the Taipei foreign exchange market, down from a high of NT$33.10 on Wednesday. The currency has appreciated nearly five percent since the beginning of the year. Turnover yesterday was US$792 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],”