■ Wind power
Offshore generators planned
The government plans to build wind power generators on the seas surrounding Taiwan in the near future after it has installed over 100 such facilities on land as part of efforts to develop renewable energy resources, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday. He revealed the plan at a forum organized by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News on strategies in the face of soaring oil prices. He said that the government had set the target of 10 percent of the power generated in the country coming from renewable energy sources by the year of 2010. At present, 8 percent of the total amount of power generated in the country is from renewable energy sources, Chen said.
■ Earnings
Hon Hai tops revenue list
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co's (鴻海精密) net revenue for last year -- NT$868.2 billion (US$26.2 billion) -- ranked top among publicly and privately owned large corporations in Taiwan, tallies released by the China Credit Information Service (CCIS, 中華徵信所) on Friday show. Hon Hai topped other corporations for the second year, bringing in NT$100 billion more than the second-place CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), which reported net revenue of NT$776.9 billion. Other corporations in the top 10 were: Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽); Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑); Quanta Computer Corp (廣達電腦); Taiwan Post Co (台灣郵政); Taiwan Power Co (台電); Asustek Computer Corp (華碩電腦); Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽); and the Bureau of National Health Insurance (中央健保), in that order.
■ Clothing
Chinese collars promoted
Hong Kong fashion label Shanghai Tang (上海唐) on Tuesday launched the "Mandarin Collar Society," a group that wants to "liberate" businessmen from the Western dress code of suit and tie with the more relaxed Chinese collar, a style that was favored by Mao Zedong (毛澤東). The club appears to be a publicity stunt for Shanghai Tang, which makes Chinese-style attire, but founder Raphael le Masne de Chermont says he wants to promote Chinese culture.
■ Beverages
Starbucks eyeing India
Starbucks Corp is in talks with partners in India about setting up stores in Asia's second-largest economy. "We are talking to some of our partners in India about our future," chief executive officer Jim Donald said on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. Starbucks submitted a fresh proposal to India's government detailing its plans for setting up a chain of shops in the country, India's Business Standard reported on April 20, citing an unidentified company spokeswoman.
■ Communications
Mobile shipments slow
Global mobile phone shipments slowed during the first three months of the year, but market leader Nokia still shipped more than 90 million handsets, an industry survey showed on Friday. The survey, by research firm IDC, said overall global shipments grew 10 percent during the quarter compared with last year, as market growth cooled. Nokia shipped 91.1 million units compared to Motorola which shipped 45.4 million handsets during the first quarter, according to IDC. The US firm was the only one of the top five to see a decline in sales. Samsung shipped 34.8 million handsets, followed by Sony Ericsson, which shipped 21.8 million units, and LG Electronics with 15.8 million.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained