■ TAIEX ends higher
Share prices closed mixed yesterday as losses triggered initially by Wall Street's overnight decline were offset by hopes for foreign capital inflows, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 5.39 points at 6,578.61, on turnover of NT$100.16 billion (US$3.06 billion).
Grand Cathay Investment Services Corp (大華投顧) chairman Tu Jin-lung (杜金龍) said investors bought into undervalued stocks with good earnings prospects, following a previous correction.
"Gains in the local currency raised hopes for capital inflows and put some momentum back into the stock market, bolstering interest in stocks with better earnings prospects," he said.
■ Hua Nan gets green light
The Financial Supervisory Com-mission has approved Hua Nan Bank's (華南銀行) application to set up a second representative office in Hanoi, the commission said yesterday.
Hua Nan's plan to open another office in Hanoi is aimed at serving increasing Taiwanese investment in the area as the Vietnamese government is developing the north of the country, the commission said.
State-controlled Hua Nan obtained the Vietnamese financial regulator's approval in April to officially upgrade its representative office in Ho Chih Minh City to a branch.
Taiwanese banks have been aggressively developing in Vietnam. To date, the country has six branches, 10 representative offices and one joint venture with a local bank rival in the Southeast Asian state.
Taiwan has recently overtaken Singapore to be the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with cumulative investment totaling US$8 billion, according to the commission.
■ More workers moonlighting
More office workers are looking for outsourced jobs in an attempt to supplement their income as consumer prices continue to rise, an online employment service provider said yesterday.
According to Tien Chu-cheng (田居正), the manager of an outsourcing jobs Web site operated by 104 Job Bank, the number of job-seeking members on the site increased 6.3 percent last month compared with June, with as many as 75 percent of job-seekers being office workers looking for moonlighting opportunities.
The number of outsourced jobs available last month also saw a 6.3 percent increase, with job openings in the category of "animated graphics/design" accounting for the largest proportion at 43.1 percent, Tien said.
Other popular job openings include architectural graphics and interior design for housing projects, as well as web designers for online stores, he added.
■ BenQ's sales up last month
BenQ Corp (明基), the nation's biggest mobile-phone maker, yesterday reported NT$16.3 billion (US$500 million) in consolidated sales last month, an increase of 52 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
However, the figure is 9.9 percent lower than its June sales of NT$18.1 billion, the statement said, without elaborating.
The company yesterday also denied news reports that it plans to shutter its plant in Germany.
"We announced plans to trim our workforce in Germany on July 10, but we have no plan to shutter our German plant or cut salaries because in Germany, that requires approval from the trade union," a BenQ press officer said on condition of anonymity.
■ NT dollar edges up
The New Taiwan dollar traded higher against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.191 to close at NT$32.586 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$1.128 billion.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six