The government will invest NT$15 billion (US$468.75 million) by 2010 to develop the infrastructure of the biotechnology industry, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
Saying that biotechnology is one of the major technologies being developed locally, the officials added that the government would continue to relax its rules and controls, provide information, encourage technological exchanges, offer human resources support and help biotech firms establish strategic alliances with foreign companies, in addition to channeling funds into the industry.
They said that in 1995, the government finalized a project to promote the development of the biotechnology industry and formed a group responsible for providing guidance to the industry.
In the past few years, the Council of Agriculture and the National Science Council have promoted projects for the establishment of an agri-biotechnology industrial park, a biomedical industrial park in Hsinchu, an orchid biotechnology park in Tainan County and a maritime biotechnology industrial park in Ilan County, they said.
Last year, the government launched a project aimed at developing Taiwan into a "biomedical island" with projects including the National Health Information Infrastructure program, the Taiwan BioBank program and the construction of a clinical experiment system, they said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
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