■ Stocks rise on US tech rally
Shares rose yesterday, led by gains in the technology sector after an overnight rally in the US. The TAIEX rose 48.03 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,543.06, on turnover of NT$107.20 billion (US$3.3 billion). Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest contract chipmaker by revenue, rose 1.6 percent to NT$62.9, while rival United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) gained 1 percent to NT$19.9. Computer company Acer Inc fell 6.1 percent to NT$61.5, reaching its lowest close since Sept. 16, after the company posted worse-than-expected results for the fourth quarter late on Wednesday. The firm said its fourth-quarter operating profit was NT$2.27 billion (US$69.8 million) on revenue of NT$104.18 billion.
■ Chunghwa Telecom's profit falls
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan's largest phone company, had a 10.4 percent decline in revised fourth-quarter profit. Net income at the Taipei-based company dropped to NT$9.5 billion (US$292 million), the company said in a statement yesterday. That compares with NT$10.6 billion profit a year earlier. Sales last year rose 0.4 percent to NT$183.4 billion from 2004, the statement said. Profit last year fell 4.4 percent to NT$47.7 billion, revised from NT$46.2 billion announced on Jan. 26, the statement said. During a conference with investors yesterday, the company revised downward its subscriber number for third-generation mobile phone service to 800,000 people by the end of this year, down from its previous target of 1 million people.
■ New chairman recommended
The Ministry of Finance is attempting to appoint Lin Cheng-i (林誠一), acting chairman of the International Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國國際商銀), as the new chairman of China Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控) after the government's original candidate turned down the offer on Tuesday night, according to a source close to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). The source said that Minister of Finance Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) had personally recommended Tsai to Su yesterday evening. The Presidential Office is also reported to be aware of the choice, the source said. Tsai, who serves on the board of directors at China Development Financial, is expected to be elected the new chairman at a board meeting scheduled to be held at 4pm today. The selection of Tsai is not meant to counterbalance the influence of the Koo family, which controls seven of the 21 seats on the board at China Development Financial, but to protect the interests of shareholders and comply with the principles of corporate governance, the source said.
■ Cabinet to aid industry upgrades
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday the government would release a plan to help conventional industries upgrade capabilities and enhance competitiveness, thereby enabling them to compete more effectively with similar products from China and other countries. The project includes aid in the form of providing business expertise, personnel training and the upgrade of manufacturing techniques, Chen said at the Legislative Yuan. Chen said the ministry's Industrial Development Bureau is responsible for identifying industries at risk and will propose a plan to assist them.
■ NT dollar moves up
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.061 to close at NT$32.537 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$817 million.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained