The government plans to spend an additional NT$900 million (US$27 million) to boost the exports of at least 65,000 local companies, Vice Premier Chiou I-jen (
This amount is on top of a NT$2.33 billion budget that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has allocated to marketing local products on the global market in the second half of the year and next year.
With the additional NT$900 million, the government aims to achieve double-digit growth in exports this year, Chiou said.
The nation's exports rose 11 percent last month from a year earlier to a record US$20.1 billion, the Ministry of Finance reported on July 9.
The ministry said at the time that it expected exports to remain strong in the third and fourth quarters, as they are typically high season for exporters.
The Cabinet's announcement yesterday came as the government banks on strong exports to boost the nation's economy, which the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics forecast in May would reach 4.38 percent this year, compared with 4.68 percent growth last year.
"For 2006, Taiwan's economic growth rate was 4.68 percent. More than 3.63 percent of that growth came from the net benefits of exports," Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
The ministry also plans to offer NT$2 million to each company for use in international trade exhibitions in key markets, and NT$1.5 million to those targeting trade fairs in second-tier markets, he said.
"In addition, the government will help develop and establish the international image of local companies as well as educate future professionals to have expertise in international trading and marketing," Chen said.
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
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],”