Bankruptcy filed for Youth Camp
The Consumers' Foundation (消基會) yesterday visited the Taipei Court to apply for a court ruling to declare the debt-ridden Youth Camp Health Group (佳姿健康集團) bankrupt.
The foundation presented required documents of 18 victimized members of the ill-fated fitness-center chain, which closed down its last location on May 20 due to financial straits.
As the company rejected requests to refund its 250,000 members, the foundation decided to offer voluntary services to pursue legal actions on behalf of the consumers.
According to the Bankruptcy Law (破產法), if a bankruptcy ruling is made, the court will appoint a management committee to formally take over Youth Camp, allowing all its creditors to take part in discussions of how the firm's assets should be distributed.
Overseas investment urged
The nation's central bank said it is encouraging local companies and individuals to invest in overseas assets to "grasp economic resources."
George Chou (周阿定), who is the director general of the central bank's currency department in Taipei, said in a press conference yesterday, "As long as it helps economic development, we encourage people to invest overseas."
The remarks came as the New Taiwan dollar rose to a one-week high against the US dollar after foreign investors bought a net NT$13.4 billion (US$428 million) of Taiwan shares yesterday.
Overseas investments could be purchases of financial products, real estate, or mergers and acquisitions by corporations, Chou said.
NEC to buy more Taiwan goods
Japan's computer giant NEC Corp is expected to increase its purchase of Taiwan goods by 10 percent this year from a year ago, the DigiTimes Web site reported yesterday, citing NEC Taiwan president Kakimura Shinichi.
Via a research and development center it set up in Taipei last year, NEC will procure more than US$2.9 billion worth of goods from Taiwan this year, compared to US$2.66 billion last year, according to DigiTimes.
The Japanese firm's procurement consist of components and finished products covering semiconductor, information technology, telecommunications, and networking industries, the report said.
Taiwan accepted by APEC group
Taiwan was formally accepted as a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Engineer Framework yesterday, an official of the Cabinet-level Public Construction Commission (PCC) announced, adding that membership will facilitate local engineers to obtain APEC certificates allowing them to work in the region.
As a member of the framework, Taiwan is eligible to certify local engineers' international practice capability in accordance with regulations governing independent authorized bodies for the APEC engineering register, the official noted.
An APEC engineer should complete accredited programs, gain at least seven years of practical experience, have been in charge of project practice for at least two years, and have maintained a continuous professional career, according to the PCC.
NT dollar trades higher
The New Taiwan traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.092 to close at NT$31.323 on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday.
Turnover was US$666 million, up from US$626 million the previous day.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six