S&P reaffirms rating
International ratings agency Stan-dard and Poor's Ratings Services yesterday maintained its long-term foreign currency rating for the country. Taiwan's AA- and A-1+ ratings were reaffirmed by the ratings company and the outlook for its debt remained stable.
But S&P said uncertainty over economic policies still exists in the nation.
"Some polls have yet to be conducted, including that for Taiwan's legislature. Results could also affect economic and political stability," the agency said in a statement, citing S&P's credit analyst Ping Chew (周彬).
LCD investment growth to slow
The rate of investment to expand output of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) used in televisions and computers will slow next year to 22 percent, market researcher Information Network said.
"The worldwide market for processing equipment for LCDs will reach US$4.8 billion in 2004, growing to nearly US$6 billion in 2005,'' Information Network ana-lyst Robert Castellano said in an e-mailed report.
"Revenues grew 19 percent in 2003 and will follow with a 51 percent gain in 2004," he said.
LCD prices in the second quarter fell for the first time in almost 18 months, according to market researcher Isuppli Corp. TV screen prices declined by as much as 5 percent per month in the second quarter, and panels used in computer monitors fell by a smaller amount, Isuppli analyst Paul Semenza said.
Come home, Chen says
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) urged overseas Taiwanese businessmen to return home to cash in on the new economic boom.
Chen made the appeal while meeting with representatives of the Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Asia.
Quoting forecasts by several private economic think tanks, Chen said the nation's economic growth rate will reach 6 percent or even more this year.
"This indicates that our economy has resumed robust growth. We welcome all overseas Taiwan businessmen to return to share the new benefits," Chen said.
High Speed Rail to sell shares
Taiwan High Speed Rail Co's (台灣高鐵) board yesterday was sche-duled to discuss a plan to sell NT$17 billion (US$500 million) of preferred shares, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
The company is building the high-speed link between Taipei and Kaohsiung. Taiwan High Speed Rail will have to raise NT$53.4 billion between September and November next year, the paper said.
Plane crash suits sent to Taiwan
China Airlines Co (華航) and Boeing Co won the transfer of lawsuits filed over a 2002 plane crash to Taiwan's courts from California.
US District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles agreed with Boeing and China Airlines' argument that US courts are an inconvenient forum.
Families of 121 people killed in the crash had sought to keep the cases in the US, where they can sue for products liability and pay lawyers with proceeds from any recovery.
The suits claim that the airlines' plane had structural and mechanical problems that were compounded by faulty maintenance. The Boeing 747-200 carrying 225 passengers and crew from Taiwan to Hong Kong broke up in midair and crashed over the Taiwan Strait, killing all on board.
NT dollar down
The new Taiwan dollar yesterday declined against its US counterpart, falling NT$0.071 to close at NT$34.065 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$521 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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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