Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
"With a solid foundation and vigorous private enterprises, I have confidence in Taiwan's economic development," Chen said at the inauguration ceremony.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who supervised the handover, praised Chen's international trade experience, including his efforts toward Taiwan's accession to the WTO, and his leadership in inking free-trade agreements (FTAs).
Chen began his government service with a job at the Bureau of Foreign Trade in 1973 and built up a substantial record in international trade.
As a ministry veteran, Chen would not need an orientation period, Su said.
Steve Chen is the sixth economic minister in President Chen Shui-bian's (
With Steve Chen taking over the top job at the ministry, his former job as political vice minister will be filled by administrative Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (
No replacement has yet been named for Shih's old post, but the position may be filled by Department of Industrial Technology Director-General Huang Chung-chiou (黃重球), according to a report in the Chinese-language media yesterday.
Despite Steve Chen's optimism about the nation's economy, he faces a bumpy road, given Taiwan's current economic woes.
A report released by the Council for Economic Planning and Development last month said business indicators showed signs of a slowdown.
After 10 straight months of "green" light status, the monitoring indicators flashed a "yellow-blue" light in June, indicating a deceleration in major economic activities, the report said.
Increases in the consumer price index (CPI) will be another headache for the new minister, as the government tries to keep the CPI below 2 percent even though gasoline and utility prices need to be adjusted given the huge losses reported by state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC,
Although Formosa Petrochemical Corp's (
Another thorny issue that Steve Chen faces is cross-strait trade policy, including the long-awaited lifting of the ban on investing in IC design, IC packaging and testing, and 12-inch wafer fabs in China.
The government agreed to allow local semiconductor companies to build a total of three 8-inch wafer factories producing chips using the less advanced 0.25-micron processing technology in China by the end of last year.
While Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) set up one factory in Shanghai in 2004, the applications of Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) for factories in China have yet to be approved.
Officials said in March that the ministry would resume reviewing applications, but the companies may have to cool their heels a while longer, given the expected fallout in cross-strait relations from Chad switching its diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing last weekend.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
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The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
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