■ Competitiveness
Taiwan ranks No. 2 in Asia
Taiwan's competitiveness ranked second after Hong Kong among 79 Asian economies last year, slipping from first place the previous year, according to a report released on Friday by Singapore's Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). Other economies on the top five list were Singapore, China's Guangdong Province and Malaysia, in that order. In terms of their business environment, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau seized the top three places, in that order. Taiwan placed third in terms of economic environment, government efficiency and social environment, lagging behind Hong Kong and Singapore. The study was conducted by the IPS in cooperation with Nanyang Technological University.
■ FDI
Foreign investment up 386%
Approved investment by overseas Chinese and foreign nationals during the first seven months of this year increased nearly fourfold over the same period last year, Taiwan's Investment Commission reported on Thursday. The commission said it approved 861 investment cases submitted by overseas Chinese and foreign nationals between January and July of this year, valued at a total of US$8.34 billion, up 386 percent from the same period last year. Last month alone there were 195 newly approved cases submitted by overseas Chinese and foreign investors, with the total reaching US$1.4 billion. Figures also showed Taiwanese investment in China increased 31.38 percent in the first seven months of this year, with 601 cases approved, totaling US$3.9 billion, including 82 cases last month totaling US$386.97 million.
■ Trade
Indian official on his way
India's vice minister of commerce and industry in charge of investment, Ajay Dua, will head a trade delegation to Taiwan later this month to seek investment in his country, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. India is the largest country in South Asia, with a population of 1.09 billion. In a period of increased economic exchanges between Taiwan and India, Dua will be the highest-level official within India's government to visit Taiwan in recent years. The delegation will stay in Taiwan from Aug. 31 to Sep. 2. Dua will introduce India's business climate and trade opportunities at a trade seminar on Sept. 1.
■ Banking
Bad loans to be auctioned off
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), the nation's second-largest lender, plans to auction NT$30.3 billion (US$928 million) in bad loans, including NT$300 million in credit card debt. The bank announced its board's decision in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Friday, without giving details such as a timetable for the auction. This comes after the Taipei-based lender said on July 24 that the Taiwan branch of FC Capital Management Co, a unit of General Electric Co, won a bid to buy NT$19.2 billion of bad loans from Taiwan Cooperative.
■ Internet
EBay nixes satellite listings
EBay Inc, the world's biggest online auctioneer, deleted postings for the sale of satellite TV dishes from its auction site in China after authorities began a month-long campaign to reinforce the ban of such devices, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Ordinary Chinese aren't allowed to own satellite dishes as officials have forbidden locals from accessing foreign programming since 1993, Xinhua reported.
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