■ New head for First Financial
Chao Yuan-chi (趙元旗), president of the state-controlled First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), was appointed as the company's acting chairman on Sunday after former chairman Steve Shieh's (謝壽夫) resignation was approved by the Cabinet on Friday. The latest personnel reshuffle was announced following a meeting between Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) on Sunday morning. Hsieh said the decision was made in the hope that Chao, a seasoned banker with rich experience from several private banks, would continue with the reforms Shieh had initiated in the nation's fourth-largest financial services provider. The personnel change was approved during First Financial's provisional board meeting yesterday, according to the company statement.
■ Export zones performing well
Export processing zones attracted some NT$6.4 billion (US$202.3 million) in new and expanded investments during the first three months of this year, an official from the Kaohsiung-based Export Processing Zone Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The good record was due to several measures initiated by the administration encouraging foreign and local manufacturers to set up or expand operational lines in the zones, the official said. These included improving the investment environment; instituting campaigns to attract foreign and local investment; and improving the professional standards of employees. The facilities had been successfully upgraded into capital- and technology-intensive industrial zones, he added. The five processing zones are located in Kaohsiung and Taichung. From January to last month, nine new investment applications amounting to NT$1.54 billion were approved, while the number of expanded investments reached 16 for a total of NT$4.86 billion.
■ Reserves still favor US dollar
The central bank has retained 50 to 60 percent of its foreign-currency reserves in US dollars, a Chinese-language newspaper said. The central bank hasn't adjusted the allocation because of the Chinese yuan's peg to the US currency, the Taipei-based newspaper said. The nation's foreign-currency reserves, the third-highest in the world, rose last month to a record US$251 billion, boosted by "substantial" foreign capital inflows and investment returns, the central bank said on April 4. The reserves, which trail those of Japan and China, rose for a 45th month from US$247 billion in February, the bank said.
■ Microsoft talks to local firms
Microsoft Corp is exploring possible ties with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and other Taiwanese companies to manufacture advanced automotive electronics, a Chinese-language business daily reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Microsoft recently sent a team to visit Quanta, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and other local companies to discuss deals, the Taipei-based newspaper said. Microsoft is promoting features that may eventually include letting cars make automatic payments or providing automobile-usage information to insurance companies. Quanta Computer, the world's biggest maker of notebook computers, on March 16 said it plans to make automotive-electronics products in the second half, expanding into new lines as growth in its personal-computer market slows.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, gaining NT$0.049 to close at NT$31.560 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$573 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