With premier-designate Su Tseng-chang's (
Joseph Lyu (
"Neither of them are heavyweights but both are entrusted with heavyweight tasks," said Thomas Lee (
Their ability to rapidly deal with public affairs and carry out national economic policies will determine how well they stand up to public scrutiny, he added.
Known as a seasoned banker, Lyu's appointment to the finance ministry was viewed by many as odd, since the ministry's main function now is to pursue more fair taxation, while dealing with stake-holdings in state-run financial institutions is a secondary task, Lee said.
But if the legislature passes revisions to the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (
However, this could also mean that the ministry's efforts to push through tax reform could fail, despite its initial success in passing the alternative minimum tax late last year.
Lin yesterday threw his full support behind his successor, Lyu, saying that Lyu's rich experience and strong capabilities will help him weather difficulties.
For his part, Huang will face stiff challenges after taking the helm of the economic affairs ministry, Lee said.
Huang is a former dean of National Taipei University's business school and was an executive at several private companies for more than 20 years.
His experience in chairing the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (
Huang's first challenge will be how to deal with the possible hikes in utility fees after the Lunar New Year, which always triggers dissatisfaction and will give the public a chance to examine his political wisdom, the professor noted.
Meanwhile, foreign business groups also said that they hope the new ministers make their plans for the next two years as soon as possible in order to achieve better policy transparency and stability.
"We expect them to get down to the business quickly, as time is running out," Guy Wittich, chief executive officer of European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT), said in a phone interview yesterday. He cited worries about Taiwan's weakening competitiveness compared with other countries in the region such as South Korea, and slowing economic growth.
With frequent political shakeups, foreign businesspeople expect the government to deliver consistent policy in order to help their business activities here, American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) Executive Director Richard Vuylsteke said.
Further normalization of cross-strait relations, including facilitating the free flow of personnel across the Taiwan Strait and lifting import bans on products or components manufactured in China, remain top priorities for both foreign business chambers, both chamber heads said.
Improving market access through measures such as scrapping technical trade barriers is also an area in which the foreign business community wants the new government to make substantial progress, Wittich said.
Vuylsteke agreed, and acknowledged the authorities' efforts to implement financial reforms.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San