The annual Taiwan International Orchid Show held last month in Tainan County has received more than NT$2.4 billion (US$78.7 million) in export orders, a 65 percent increase from last year, Tainan County Commisioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said yesterday.
Su said the show attracted more than 200,000 local and foreign visitors as well as 2,000-plus buyers from 24 countries during its 10-day run which ended on March 17.
Some of the orders for several species or patented species were in the quantity of millions, Su said.
This year, the American Orchid Society, which was asked to send officials to the show to serve as judges, broke a record for the number of orchid plants awarded the highest honors, said Lee Chang-yu (
Lee said that six orchid plants received first class certificates from the US society, breaking the society's record.
The US group usually awards about a dozen such certificates a year.
This year was also the first in which US judges awarded more than four of the top certificates at a single show since its establishment in the 1920s.
Taiwan exported NT$1.84 billion worth of orchids in 2006, a year-on-year increase of 24.1 percent, with butterfly orchids, or phalaenopsis, accounting for NT$1.15 billion of the total, customs statistics show.
Total orchid export orders secured at the orchid show totaled NT$800 million in 2005, NT$1 billion in 2006 and NT$1.5 billion this year, figures compiled by the Tainan County Government show.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS