President taps China market
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), operator of the world's third-largest 7-Eleven franchise, is tapping into China's hypermarket sector with its first Unimart (統一優瑪特) to be inaugurated today in Sichuan Province.
Established with initial capital of 50 million yuan (US$6.18 million), PCSC (Sichuan) Hypermarket Ltd (四川統一量販超市公司), President Chain's first 100-percent owned business in China, will become an important base for the company to explore China's vast southwestern market, according to its press release issued yesterday.
Hsu Chung-jen (徐重仁), president of President Chain, will take the chairmanship, aiming to launch six hypermarkets within three years and 15 in five years.
With the opening of Unimart, President Chain's business operation in China has taken shape with its hypermarket, health and cosmetics (Cosmed in Shenzhen), and beverage (Starbucks in Shanghai) retailers snatching a share across the Taiwan Strait.
HannStar focuses on brand
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), an unprofitable flat-panel maker, will not consider any mergers and will instead focus on building its brand, the Financial Times reported, citing chairman Chiao You-chi (焦佑麒).
Having already begun to sell televisions in the US, China and Hong Kong, HannStar plans to start selling its products in Europe and Australia before Christmas and in Japan by next year, the newspaper cited Chiao as saying.
The comments deal a blow to hopes of consolidation in the industry and underscore how Taiwan's private, family-owned companies resist pulling out of failed businesses, the FT said.
5G iPod reaches Taiwan
The fifth generation iPod from Apple Computer Inc officially hit local stores on Thursday, according to a company statement. The new video iPod can display music videos and television shows for consumers on the move, in addition to the MP3 and photo-viewing features.
Boasting a 6.35cm color screen, it is 30 percent thinner than its predecessors and comes with 50 percent more storage.
The iPod portable video player can store up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or more than 150 hours of video and is available in a 30-gigabyte model with a 14-hour battery for NT$10,900 and a 60-gigabyte model with a 20-hour battery for NT$14,500.
The company said that iPod fans can get the much-anticipated products from authorized distributors nationwide, but cautioned that there will be limited stocks for the first batch of video iPods.
Teco and Aux JV
Taiwan's Teco Group (東元集團) will set up a joint venture with China's Aux Group (奧克斯集團) to produce compressors in China, a local Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
Both companies will invest 200 million yuan (US$25 million) in the project based in Ningbo with an annual production capacity of three million compressors for air conditioning use, the report said.
Operations are expected to begin in the second half of next year and annual production capacity will be ramped up to 10 million units in the future, it cited Teco's sources as saying.
In addition to servicing the China market, the companies are also planning to sell the compressors and other parts in Taiwan.
Teco declined to comment.
NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar gained against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, advancing NT$0.132 to close at NT$33.473.
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