■ AUO raises Toppan investment
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third-largest maker of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, said yesterday that it had boosted its holdings in Japanese color filter maker Toppan Printing Co's local subsidiary to NT$1.43 billion (US$43.17 million) to further improve its cost structure.
AU Optronics now owns 49 percent in Toppan CFI (台灣凸版國際採光), up from the 39.7 percent it bought for NT$6.1 billion last month.
Color filters are a key component of LCD panels and account for about 25 percent of the total cost of a 32-inch LCD TV panel, according to market researcher DisplaySearch.
■ Foxconn to build `city' in China
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康集團), a subsidiary of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), said it would invest at least US$1 billion in the Huaian Economic Development Zone located in eastern Jiangsu Province in China, a news release from the Huaian City Government revealed yesterday.
Foxconn would invest in facilities for making electronic products in the zone, the city government's statement said on its Web site.
The Taiwan-based business group would spend five years building a Foxconn (Huaian) industrial city there, the site said.
Huaian government officials have voiced support for the Foxconn investment, while company head Terry Gou (郭台銘) said he has confidence in the investment environment there.
■ Chang Hwa enters partnership
Western Union Financial Services Ltd, a US-headquartered money-transfer service company, yesterday announced a partnership with Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) that will offer cross-border express remittance services at the bank's 45 branches nationwide. Including its previous deals with Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) and Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), the number of the firm's service branches in Taiwan has surpassed 100, said Chris Yau (姚新元), director of Western Union's Taiwan branch.
Company statistics show that Taiwanese people wired US$18.2 billion to China last year in a 70.31 percent increase over the level in 2004. Remittances sent from China to Taiwan in the same period totaled US$23.8 billion, up by 62.7 percent over a year ago.
■ Uni-President targets China
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), Taiwan's leading food-manufacturing company, is considering a further expansion in China that could account for almost half of the company's revenue, company spokesperson Selina Wu (吳旭慧) said yesterday.
Uni-President had decided not to increase its Southeast Asian investments but instead focus on China for future overseas development, Wu said.
"China is a growing market for Uni-President. The company's top priority is to make good use of the resources there to grow," Wu said.
Since 1992, Uni-President has invested US$342 million in its operations in China, close to 40 percent of the company's net worth as allowed by Taiwanese law.
■ Koo family to raise stake
At the urging of the government, the Koo family will raise its stake in China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) to up to 20 percent in order to keep control of the nation's fifth-largest financial company.
Company president Angelo Koo (辜仲瑩) has said his family would raise its share holdings in accordance with the government's request, said Joanne Yang, vice president of China Development, relayed in an interview yesterday.
The government made the request as part of its drive to strengthen the nation's financial industry.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last