■ Aviation
Malaysia Airlines hikes rates
Malaysia Airlines yesterday announced sharp increases in fuel surcharges starting next month, the carrier's fourth hike in half a year. "Fuel cost continues to remain as the single largest expense item for all carriers," it said in a statement. "Malaysia Airlines has been taking measures to mitigate this rise in cost by streamlining and matching fuel surcharge rates in line with other airlines," it said. The loss-making airline said that, from Feb. 1, fuel surcharges would rise from US$20 or less to US$50 for routes from Malaysia to South Asian and East Asian destinations. Malaysia Airlines said it would also introduce an administration fee of US$3.70 to US$7, depending on routes, and raise insurance charges for international routes to US$5 from US$1.25 now.
■ Internet
UK online shopping soars
More consumers in the UK logged on to do their holiday shopping last year, with Internet buying rising 50 percent from the previous year, a retail group said on Friday. In the 10 weeks prior to Christmas, online spending totaled £5 billion (US$8.8 billion), up from £3.33 billion in the 2004 holiday season, the Interactive Media in Retail Group said in a statement. Overall last year, UK shoppers spent £19.2 billion at online stores, 32 percent more than the previous year. On average, each of the 24 million people who shopped on the Internet last year spent £816 over the course of the year and £208 in the run-up to Christmas.
■ Software
Microsoft boosts bosses' pay
Microsoft Corp, the world's biggest software maker, increased pay for board members by 27 percent, still lagging behind rivals such as Google Inc. Directors including former JP Morgan Chase chief financial officer Dina Dublon will receive US$200,000 a year, including US$120,000 in stock, spokesman Sean Durkin said yesterday. They previously earned US$50,000 in cash and 4,000 shares, worth US$108,000 at an estimated price of US$27 each, Durkin said. Pay at Microsoft, whose stock price slipped 2.1 percent last year, still trails Google, where the stock doubled last year. Microsoft also raised the value of shares directors are required to hold to US$600,000. Previously they were required to own 4,000 shares, valued at US$105,640 at yesterday's closing price. Directors have five years to reach the new shareholding requirement. The pay package applies to all Microsoft's board members, except chief executive Steve Ballmer and founder Bill Gates.
■ Aviation
United set to exit bankruptcy
United Airlines' reorganization plan won final approval by a judge on Friday, clearing the way for the second-biggest US carrier to come out of bankruptcy in less than two weeks. The ruling by US Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff, after remaining objections to United's reorganization plan were resolved this week, keeps United on a path to emerge from Chapter 11 on Feb. 1 after the largest and longest airline bankruptcy in history. Wedoff said there is "reason to feel good" about United's restructuring, even though it took about twice as long as first projected. "Three years ago United Airlines was in danger of dying," he said. After using bankruptcy law to reorganize, "once again it has the potential to be a profitable investment, a reliable business partner, and a stable employer," Wedoff said.
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
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
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