■ Bank lending rises fast
Bank lending last month rose at its fastest monthly rate in more than five and a half years as record-low interest rates encouraged companies to tap credit lines to fund expansion. Lending by the nation's financial institutions rose 6.7 percent last month to NT$14.4 trillion (US$433.6 billion) from a year earlier, the central bank said on its Web site. The increase is the biggest since a 7.5-percent gain in July 1998. The central bank left the key interest rate at a record low on Friday because it sees low inflation risk and sluggish unemployment figures.
■ Bad loans auctioned
With eight institutions bidding, the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保) yesterday auctioned off to three asset management companies bad loans from the debt-ridden Chung Shing Bank (中興銀行). The face value of the loans totaled NT$51.17 billion and the average recovery rate was 24 percent. Lone Star Asia-Pacific Ltd, the biggest investor in distressed Asian debt, won a NT$17.1 billion tranche by bidding NT$3.8 billion, according to Central Deposit. FC Capital Management Co won bad loans whose face value was NT$1.38 billion by paying 2.84 billion. Taiwan Asset Management Corp (台灣金聯) won NT$20.1 billion worth of bad loans at a cost of NT$3.09 billion.
■ Itochu to buy chunk of Tingyi
Itochu Corp, a Japanese trading company, will buy about half of a distribution unit of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp (頂益控股), the biggest maker of instant noodles in China, said Tingyi chief financial officer Frank Lin (林清棠). Itochu will purchase 49.99 percent of Tingtong (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp (頂通控股) from Tingyi for US$10 million, Lin said. Tingtong, set up in 1998, has operations in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Chongqing. The distribution venture will be the second formed between Itochu and Tingyi. In January, Itochu partnered with Asahi Breweries Ltd to buy half of a beverage venture owned by Tingyi. The latest venture will help Tingyi and Itochu tap a market worth an estimated US$32 billion a year in China, Lin said.
■ Asustek hires USB adviser
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) hired Sharon Su (蘇豔雪), head of technology research at UBS Warburg Securities Ltd in Taiwan, as the company's strategic adviser, according to reports in the Chinese-language media. Su, who has worked for 10 years on technology research in Taiwan, has been chosen the nation's best analyst by Asiamoney magazine for the past three years. UBS Warburg had been paying Su about US$1.5 million a year, the report said. Su worked at ABN Amro Holding NV for seven years before UBS Warburg hired her in 2001. She worked at Nomura Securities Co for 18 months before joining ABN Amro.
■ NT Dollar Gains
The NT dollar gained 0.2 percent after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) agreed to an election recount and 500,000 opposition protesters who had rallied on Saturday dispersed peacefully. The currency rose NT$0.08 to close at NT$33.194 against the US dollar on turnover of US$718 million. The currency declined 0.1 percent last week. "The crowd in front of the Presidential Office has gone and the election dispute is expected to be resolved," said Tarsicio Tong, a currency trader at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行). "The NT dollar is expected to extend the gain," Tong said.
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
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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],”