■ Investment
Funds may buy bonds abroad
Local state-controlled investment funds may lower holdings in local-currency government bonds and buy US Treasuries, or European and Japanese debt, to pursue higher returns, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it got the information. Managers of the funds, such as pensions and insurance, are allowed to make the change after restrictions on their investments are eased, the Taipei-based paper said. Returns from US Treasuries and European government bonds are at least 2 percentage points higher than those of Taiwan's government bonds, the paper said.
■ Mobile phones
Fuji Photo to build lens plant
Fuji Photo Film Co will spend about ¥2 billion (US$17.2 million) to build a plant in China that will produce lenses used in camera-equipped mobile phones, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. The company will start construction on the plant this summer, the paper said, without saying where it obtained the information. The factory will be completed by the end of the year, employ 1,000 people and have the capacity to make 5 million units a month, the newspaper said. The plant will be Fuji Photo's third in China, the newspaper reported.
■ Arms trade
Thales plans ADI takeover
French defense giant Thales yesterday announced plans for a complete takeover of Australia's largest military manufacturer, ADI, in a move that could raise concerns in Washington. Thales and Australian construction giant Transfield currently each own a half share in ADI, which was privatized by the Australian government in 1999 for almost A$350 million (US$260 million). No figures were given for the ADI takeover bid.
■ Labor
South Korean rail strike ends
South Korean railway workers yesterday called off their three-day-old strike and decided to return to work, a labor union spokesman said. "Union members will end their strike and they will immediately return to work," Cho Yun-ho, a spokesman for the union of Korea Railroad (KORAIL), told journalists. "However, this decision does not mean an end to our struggle. We will push through with our demand even after we return to work," he said. Cho said the union would demand that management reinstates 2,244 union activists who had been suspended from their jobs on Thursday and Friday as a prelude to further action against them, including dismissal or wage cuts.
■ Commodities
CAO approves restructuring
Shareholders of China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp (CAO) voted in a new board of directors and approved a restructuring plan that would pave the way for a resumption of trading in its shares by the end of this month, the company said. CAO's shares have been suspended from trading on the Singapore Exchange since late 2004 after its revelation that it had incurred some US$550 million in undisclosed losses from trading oil derivatives. Under the restructuring plan approved on Friday, creditors can opt for an upfront cash payment of US$0.45 on every US$1 owed, or a higher repayment rate of US$0.58 a dollar spread over five years, the company said. A large part of the money will come from CAO's Chinese state-owned parent China Aviation Oil Holdings, which will inject US$75.7 million for 34.4 percent of CAO's post-restructuring share capital, bringing its total stake to 51 percent.
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
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”