■ Technology
Teco gets huge LCD order
Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) received orders to produce about NT$6 billion (US$191 million) of liquid-crystal display televisions for US-based ViewSonic Corp, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing Teco Chairman Theodore Huang (黃茂雄). The Taiwanese home-appliance maker is expected to start shipments of the 200,000 LCD TVs, including the 32-inch, 37-inch and 40-inch models in September, the Taipei-based paper said, citing Huang. Teco plans to turn out 300,000 LCD TVs this year, and is targeting annual production of 1 million units within three to five years, enabling the company to be among the world's top five LCD TV makers, the paper said, citing Huang.
■ Industry
Low-cost loans offered
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, in a bid to boost exports, plans to offer local manufacturers NT$6 billion (US$191 million) of low-cost loans to help them acquire international brands and overseas distributors, a Chinese-language business daily reported, citing an official. The ministry will lend as much as NT$300 million to each company that qualifies to help them acquire suitable businesses, the paper said, citing Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director general of the ministry's Board of Foreign Trade. The targets must either be among the top 10 distributors in a foreign country or an international brand with more than 11 years of history. An official announcement regarding the plan will be made by the end of next month and the ministry expects to start offering loans from August, the paper said.
■ United States
IRS to close walk-in centers
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Friday that it planned to close nearly a fifth of its walk-in centers where people can receive help with their tax issues. The agency said it would close 68 of 400 Tax Assistance Centers sometime in the early autumn in an effort to become more efficient, as an increasing number of people use the Internet and person-to-person phone services for assistance. "We've been seeing change in taxpayer usage through the years," the commissioner of the IRS, Mark Everson, said in a telephone interview on Friday. "We've improved our access in ways where people get the best service." According to the IRS, more than half of all returns were filed electronically this year. While nearly 7.9 million people used the walk-in centers last year, that number has dropped 19 percent since 2002, the agency said.
■ United States
Philanthropist arrested
A wealthy philanthropist with a net worth of almost US$1 billion has been arrested on charges that he used money from an investor in his investing business "as a personal piggy bank" to pay personal expenses and make charitable donations, prosecutors said. Alberto William Vilar was accused in a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Manhattan with engaging in business practices that were fraudulent, deceptive and manipulative. He was arrested on Thursday and is being held without bail, prosecutors said. US Postal Inspector Cynthia Fraterrigo charged in the complaint that Vilar improperly used money from an individual who invested US$5 million in Vilar's firm, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. Vilar, according to the complaint, had a personal net worth of about US$950 million in December.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last