■ Pact signed with Dutch, Turks
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday announced that it had inked financial supervisory cooperation agreements with its Dutch and Turkish counterparts in Hong Kong.
The accords were signed amid warming ties and increasing experience exchanges with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, and the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, increasing Taiwan's number of bilateral supervisory cooperation agreements to 21, the commission said in a statement.
The commission signed a supervisory collaboration memorandum of understanding with its French counterpart last month.
Taiwan, the Netherlands and Turkey inked the pacts while participating in the 31st annual session of the International Organization of Securities Commissions in Hong Kong, which opened on Monday and ends today.
■ Science parks clinch deal
Officials of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration (HSPA, 新竹科學園區) signed a cooperation agreement with the National Science Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) of Thailand in Helsinki yesterday to promote technological, information, trade and investment exchanges.
The signing ceremony took place during the annual meeting of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP).
An HSPA official said the cooperation agreement covered information and personnel exchanges such as advanced technologies and incubation centers, enhancement of exchanges between both science parks, possibilities of joint ventures and extending industry cooperation plans.
■ UMC revenue soars
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest contract chipmaker by revenue, said yesterday its revenue last month had risen by more than 30 percent from the same month last year.
The latest figure totaled NT$8.5 billion (US$263.8 million), 31.5 percent higher than the NT$6.47 billion in the same month last year, the company said in a statement.
The company reported revenue of NT$41.35 billion for the January-May period, up 24.9 percent from NT$33.12 billion for the same period last year.
■ Tang Eng to release shares
State-run Tang Eng Iron Works Corp (唐榮) will soon complete privatization by releasing 49 million shares, or a 14 percent stake owned by the government, to the public, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday.
With capital of NT$3.5 billion (US$108.7 million), Tang Eng applied to be listed on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market in July last year and obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission in February, the statement said.
Reportedly, Tang Eng may make its stock market debut by the end of this month at NT$13.52 per share.
■ OBI buyers to visit
Officials of the European chain store OBI Merchandise Center GMBH, with an annual business volume of 6.3 billion euros (US$8.1 billion), will come to Taiwan on June 21 for a procurement meeting with local companies, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) officials said yesterday.
OBI, a major DIY chain, is seeking to purchase items such as alarms, batteries, sockets, extension cables and battery chargers, the officials said.
■ NT dollar keeps losing ground
The New Taiwan dollar continued losing ground against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.158 to close at NT$32.220. Turnover was US$1.15 billion.
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],”
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
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