Trade with China increases
Indirect trade between Taiwan and China in the six months to June rose 13.3 percent from the same period a year earlier to US$46.49 billion, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The figure accounted for 21.4 percent of Taiwan's total external trade during the six-month period, compared with 20.1 percent in the same period a year ago, it said, citing statistics from Taiwanese and Hong Kong customs.
Taiwan registered a trade surplus with China of US$20.21 billion for the period, up 11.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Exports to China rose 12.8 percent year-on-year to US$33.35 billion, and imports were up 14.7 percent at US$13.14 billion.
Six-month shipments to China accounted for 29.3 percent of the nation's total exports during the period, compared with 27.9 percent a year earlier, it said.
Imports from China made up 12.7 percent of total imports, up from 11.7 percent the year before, it said.
Tatung to invest in WiMAX
Home appliances maker Tatung Co (大同) said its board approved a plan to invest NT$1.1 billion (US$33.2 million) in its telecom subsidiary by issuing 110 million new shares, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The recapitalization plan for Tatung Telecom Corp (大同電信) is to raise finance for the construction of a new WiMAX network, the filing said.
Tatung Telecom, established this year with NT$100 million in capital, is one of six companies that won a WiMAX license in an auction last month.
Sumco to up wafer output
Sumco Techxiv Corp, a Japanese silicon wafer maker, will invest an additional ¥11 billion (US$96 million) to increase production of 300mm wafers at its Taiwanese unit.
The eventual ¥53 billion investment will raise monthly capacity at Formosa Sumco Technology Corp (台塑勝高科技) to 160,000 wafers by the end of next year. The unit started production earlier this year with a capacity of 50,000 wafers a month.
Sumco Techxiv's total capacity in Japan and Taiwan will expand to 460,000 wafers by June 2009 from the current 135,000.
The Tokyo-based company announced the investment in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday.
Sumco Techxiv is a unit of Sumco Corp, the world's second-largest maker of silicon wafers.
Chi Mei sets up new venture
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), the nation's second-largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) maker, said it will invest NT$2.4 billion in a new business to make small and medium-sized display modules.
The company, Chi Hsin Electronics, will begin constructing a new factory in Tainan by the end of the year, with production to start "within a quarter or two," spokeman Eddie Chen (陳彥松) said yesterday.
Bonds rise on fund shifts
Government bonds rose yesterday on speculation fund managers were shifting money to fixed-income securities after global stocks slumped.
The price of the benchmark 10-year note due in March 2017 rose 0.1211, or NT$121 per NT$100,000 face amount, to 95.6231. The yield on the note fell 1.5 basis points to close at 2.393 percent on the GRETAI Securities Market.
The New Taiwan dollar, meanwhile, extended losses against the US currency to a seventh day as foreign investors reduced holdings of Taiwanese equities.
The NT dollar fell NT$0.058 percent to close at NT$33.06 on the Taipei Forex Inc on turnover of US$606 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
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