■ APPAREL
Wacoal goes domestic
Thailand’s largest lingerie-manufacturer has refocused on the domestic market amid predictions that US demand for women’s underwear will feel the pinch as a result of the financial crisis, news reports said yesterday. “We can’t rely much of the export market because the crisis will make other countries suspend orders,” said Amnuay Bumroongwongtong, managing director of Thai Wacoal. Amnuay said Thai Wacoal had yet to receive any cancellations of orders but he predicted the US market for lingerie would “dry up” next year.
■BANKING
ANZ subsidiary approved
Vietnam has given the go-ahead for Australia’s ANZ bank to set up a wholly owned subsidiary based in Hanoi, an official statement said yesterday. ANZ will be allowed to operate for 99 years, an online statement by the State Bank of Vietnam said, citing a license signed on Thursday. The bank, which has been operating in the country since 1993, already has retail and institutional businesses in the country and holds a 10 percent stake in Sacombank, Vietnam’s leading commercial bank.
■LABOR
Coke plant ousts protesters
A Coca-Cola bottling company in Venezuela retook control of a distribution plant from protesting ex-workers on Friday, ending a standoff that the company says cost it about US$9 million. Coca-Cola FEMSA de Venezuela SA recovered control on Friday of all its distribution centers that were blocked by former contract workers and transport workers, company legal director Rodrigo Anzola said. He told reporters the Mexican-owned company received help from police.
■MEDIA
Viacom trims outlook
Viacom Inc is trimming its outlook for the year, blaming slowing advertising revenue and the souring global economy for the decline. Viacom said its full-year net earnings from continuing operations would grow in the “mid-single to low double-digit” percentage range, down from the “low double-digit” growth it predicted in July, based on a 2 percent decline in global ad revenues. Viacom earned US$2.36 per share last year. The media company is a media conglomerate that owns MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures.
■INTERNET
YouTube goes full-length
YouTube said on Friday it is adding full-length television shows to the menu at its globally popular Web site famous for snack-sized video snippets. Episodes of classic television programs including Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90210 will be available in a “theater view” format unveiled at YouTube earlier this week. “We are starting to test full-length programming on YouTube, beginning with some fan favorites requested by you,” the Google-owned Web site said in a message posted online.
■SHIPPING
NOL drops Hapag-Lloyd bid
The Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) has dropped out of the race to buy German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd, NOL said. NOL, which is 66 percent owned by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, said in a statement late on Friday “it is no longer engaged in the bidding process for the sale” of Hapag-Lloyd. The Singapore firm’s binding offer submitted on Sept. 26 has lapsed, NOL said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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