The Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會) yesterday presented a petition to presidential candidates Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Ma Ying-jeou (
TCA chairman Wang Jen-tang (
Wang said the TCA could influence 1 million votes in next month's presidential election through its member companies and associated manufacturers, their employees and workers' families.
After Wang's statement, both camps appointed staff to look into the proposal.
Wang said limitations on foreign labor are forcing businesses, including high value-added industries such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, to move to China.
With operational costs on the rise in China, the time is ripe for a new export-processing zone, Wang said.
The TCA has calculated that the ration of foreign labor must be increased to 60 percent to persuade Taiwanese businesses to return from China. This leaves 40 percent of the employment opportunities to locals, which would be sufficient to boost the economy significantly once companies begin returning.
Chen said that the implementation of the Labor Contract Law (勞動合同法) in China raised operational costs there considerably. Workers wages paid by Walton Advanced Engineering (華東) rose from 750 yuan (US$105) to 850 yuan, he said, not including an additional 8 percent property purchase bonus.
With factors such as taxation and foreign exchange, businesses face up to a 30 percent rise in costs, the TCA said.
Meanwhile, many industrial facilities stand empty in Taiwan. If foreign labor policies are relaxed or workers wages lowered, businesses could return, it said.
Wang said that an international business' headquarters is mobile, but Taiwan must beat out competition from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam to win them. The TCA said the government should offer tax incentives, adding that infrastructure and a time line for opening the three direct links with China are also essential.
Chen Yi-min (
At the same time, lowering wages for foreign workers could violate the International Labor Code, Chen Yi-min said.
Chen Yi-min also said that lowered wages for foreign workers could cause a backlash through concern over competition.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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