■ Banking
NT dollar allowed for OBUs
The nation's central bank has allowed commercial banks' offshore banking units (OBUs) to take New Taiwan dollar-denominated assets as collateral, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday. Effective immediately, commercial banks' OBUs can take NT dollar-denominated securities, property or other assets as collateral to their foreign currency lending, the newspaper said, without citing sources. Previously, the OBUs of Taiwanese banks could only take foreign currency-denominated assets as collateral to their foreign currency lending. The bank hopes the new measure could further develop local capital markets while helping OBUs become more competitive, the newspaper said.
■ Oil
Glitch slows Formosa plant
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation's only publicly traded oil refiner, cut the operating rate at one of its three ethylene plants to 90 percent because of mechanical problems. The plant, which has a capacity to make 700,000 tonnes of ethylene a year from naphtha, started running at a lower rate this week, Lin Keh-yen (林克彥), director of the president's office, said in a phone interview on Friday. Formosa is maintaining its ethylene and propylene output by boosting operations at another unit. "We are investigating the problem before taking further action, which may include shutting down the plant to carry out thorough repairs," Lin said.
■ Trade
China bars US meat firms
China has suspended imports from several major US meat processors in the latest indication the government may be retaliating as its products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns. Frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc were found to be contaminated with salmonella, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site on Friday. Imports from other firms barred by China included frozen chicken feet tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, the agency said.
■ Electronics
Hon Hai eyeing LCD stake
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation's top manufacturer of electronics parts, may buy part of the stake Royal Philips Electronics NV wants to sell in South Korea's LG.Philips LCD Co, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday. The newspaper said the move could help Innolux DisplayCorp (群創光電), a Hon Hai affiliate which is also the nation's smallest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, secure more panels. Philips owns about a one-third stake in LG.Philips LCD, the world's No. 2 LCD maker. The Dutch company has said it planned to sell at least part of its stake in LG.Philips LCD once its ownership lock-up expires this month.
■ Automakers
Nissan to ramp up minivans
Nissan Motor Co will double annual production in Indonesia of a minivan targeted at developing countries, the Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Nissan, which introduced the Grand Livina minivan in China last year and in Indonesia in April, will from this summer increase annual production to 36,000 units, the report said. The carmaker hopes to make cars in Indonesia to export to other Asian countries, the Nikkei reported, citing an unidentified official at Nissan.
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],”
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
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