Gaming taxes collected by the Macau government rose 13.4 percent in the first three quarters, as Chinese tourists flocked to the city following the opening of its first Las Vegas style casino in two-and-a-half years.
Direct gaming taxes collected from the city's six licensed operators rose to 14.19 billion patacas (US$1.77 billion) in the first three quarters, compared with 12.51 billion patacas a year earlier, according to statistics released on the Financial Services Bureau Web site.
Casino companies have been investing in the former Portuguese colony since its government opened its gaming market to foreign operators, betting Chinese gamblers will flock to the only place casino gaming is legal in the country. Wynn Resorts Ltd launched a US$1.2 billion hotel-casino on Sept. 6, and Las Vegas Sands Corp opened the city's first Las-Vegas style casino in 2004.
On Thursday, a Hong Kong company became the first Asian firm to open a US-style casino in gambling haven Macau, fast becoming the Las Vegas of the east.
Starworld Hotel, the flagship of the Galaxy group, is the second Las Vegas-style hotel-casino complex to open in the territory. The first, the Wynn Macau was opened last month just metres away from Galaxy's towering new complex.
Macau's century-old gaming market was given a boost in 2001 when the removal of a 40-year gambling monopoly from tycoon Stanley Ho (
With annual gambling receipts expected to near US$7 billion by the end of the year, the city is already believed to have overtaken the earning power of the Las Vegas Strip's casinos.
Such growth -- in excess of 25 percent last year -- has been fuelled by a sudden surge in tourist arrivals since travel restrictions were lowered in China.
The number of visitors to Macau rose 14 percent during China's National Day holiday from Oct.1 to Oct. 7, according to government statistics. Wynn Macau resort took in about US$900 million in chip sales in its first 13 days of operation, the Las Vegas Sun said in an Oct. 1 report, quoting chairman Stephen Wynn.
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)
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
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
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