■ Electronics
TAITRA campaigns in Vegas
The semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) has recently launched an advertising drive in Las Vegas, where the world's largest international consumer electronics fair started on Thursday. As part of publicity efforts to lure foreign buyers to visit Taiwan during the coming year for several planned electronics fairs, TAITRA has had posters concerning the events pasted on shuttle buses traveling toward the fair venue. The posters provide information on planned electronics fairs, including the Taipei International Automobile Electronics Show, the Taipei International Digital Electronics Show and the Taipei International Electronics Autumn Show. TAITRA also provided 1,000 hotel coupons to foreign businesses to encourage them to travel to Taiwan, the council said.
■ Electronics
Titans plan Taichung plants
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) plan to invest NT$930 billion (US$29 billion) to build plants in central Taiwan, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, citing the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) in Taichung. Powerchip plans to invest NT$310 billion to build four factories to produce chips from silicon wafers that measure 12 inches in diameter, the newspaper said. AU Optronics may invest NT$400 billion to build three so-called 7.5-generation factories to make larger flat-panel displays, the report said. Chunghwa Picture plans an investment of NT$22 billion to construct two flat-panel plants, the paper said.
■ Investment
Fund may get PRC go-ahead
The government may relax restrictions to allow the Labor Retirement Fund to invest in China and Hong Kong stocks, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, citing the Council of Labor Affairs. The move aims to improve the fund's investment returns, the Taipei-based newspaper said. Currently, the Labor Retirement Fund is not allowed to invest in Chinese equities. The proposed relaxation of rules will be submitted to the Council's committee meeting next month, the paper said. The Fund had assets of NT$396.6 billion (US$12.3 billion) as of the end of November, according to the report. Taiwan's four main government-linked funds include the Labor Retirement Fund, the Postal Savings Fund, the Civil Servant Pension Fund, and the Labor Insurance Fund.
■ Airlines
Executives expect bonuses
Executives at American Airlines are expecting April stock-based bonuses that could top US$1 million for some officials because shares of parent AMR Corp have risen despite heavy losses at the largest US carrier. AMR officials declined to estimate the cost of the bonuses. The company said stock options given to rank-and-file workers in 2003, which also vest in April, could top US$500 million. The amount of the bonuses will be based on AMR's stock price in April. At AMR's current stock price, they would range from about US$2,000 to about US$1.7 million for Daniel Garton, the airline's executive vice president for marketing. The plan was written in 2003, when AMR hovered near bankruptcy, and it rewarded executives and managers if AMR's stock performed as well or better than that of other airline companies through the end of 2005. During that time, AMR shares gained 169 percent.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last