The private sector is welcome to invest in building desalination plants in offshore areas to help the government redress water supply problems in these particular areas, the Council of Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) reported yesterday.
The CEPD convened a meeting yesterday on the development of desalination plants on the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, where drought often occurs and where suitable sites for building dams or reservoirs are limited.
According to CEPD officials, Premier Yu Shyi-kun outlined a three-point directive to facilitate the development of desalination plants to address the water supply problem in the three areas.
In accordance with the government's plans of encouraging the private sector to take part in public construction and development projects, Yu said, private investors are welcome to build desalination plants on these three islands, adding that, firstly, they will be allowed to operate other related businesses that will help lower their overall costs in building and operating the desalination plants.
Secondly, Yu said, the desalinated water that the private investors produce will be bought back by the government at guaranteed prices. In Kinmen and Matsu, the central government will offer subsidies to the private desalination plants to make up for income shortfalls, while in Penghu, water prices will be finalized after the desalination plant investors negotiate with the Taiwan Water Co.
Thirdly, the desalination plants should be built on public lands, Yu said, adding that if no suitable sites on public lands are available, then private lands will be acquired at the government's expense.
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],”