■ ULVAC eyes Tainan plant
Japanese liquid-crystal-display (LCD) giant ULVAC Kyushu Corp announced yesterday that it will set up plants in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) to produce new-generation LCD panels. Once the investment is approved, ULVAC will become the 15th Japanese company with operations in the science park. Toshiaki Fujioka, president of ULVAC, made the announcement in the administration office of the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. According to ULVAC's Taiwan branch, the Japanese company's initial investment will exceed NT$1 billion (US$31.34 million). Chen Tsung-hsing, chief executive officer of ULVAC Taiwan, said that if the first-stage investment results are lucrative, a second and third stage will follow. Most of Taiwan's flat-panel manufacturers are clients of ULVAC, including Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), an ULVAC official said.
■ Most honey not pure
It seems that most honey consumed in Taiwan is not pure, with only two of 37 honey brands passing a recent purity test, a Consumers' Foundation (消基會) official said yesterday. Among the 37 samples chosen randomly from supermarkets, traditional markets, shopping malls and organic product shops, the Consumers' Foundation found that only two samples could be considered to be first or second-grade. The analysis included amylase and cane-sugar tests. Of the 37 samples tested, two were from the US -- both failed -- and one was from France, which passed. The official said that some bee farmers add fructose to disguise the mixture as pure honey in order to reap great profits.
■ Amex appoints regional head
American Express Co, the fourth-biggest US credit-card issuer, promoted Anthony Lee to head its units in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, to help the company expand in the region. Lee, born in Singapore, joined American Express in 1977, the company said in an e-mailed release. He has been the chief executive of American Express Hong Kong since 2003. Lee, who starts immediately, will lead the company's card business in Greater China, based in Hong Kong, American Express spokeswoman Susanna Hui said. American Express has teamed up with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the nation's largest lender, to sell credit cards in the world's most populous nation
■ Asustek gets Sony contract
With lower costs than rivals such as Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), Taiwan's fifth-largest notebook maker, secured a contract from Sony Corp for notebook computers, according to a Chinese-language report yesterday, without citing sources. Shipments of the high-end laptop computers for Sony will be started in the second quarter next year with a capacity of 10,000 units to 20,000 units per month, the report said. Asustek declined to comment on the report. Asustek was also reportedly to gain notebook-computer orders from Hewlett-Packard Co. The company plans to ship 3.8 million notebook computers this year with OEM orders accounting for 2.3 million units, according to the report. ■ NT dollar falls back
The New Taiwan dollar declined against the US dollar in Taipei yesterday, losing NT$0.129 to close at NT$31.949 on speculation that the US Federal Reserve may hike its benchmark interest rates this week. A total of US$1.03 billion changed hands yesterday.
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],”
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
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