■Info tech
Sales in Taiwan increase
The local buying offices of foreign information and communication technology (ICT) companies procured US$86.8 billion worth of ICT and electronics goods in Taiwan this year, a 6.9 percent increase from a year earlier, the nonprofit Institute for Information Industry (III) reported on Friday. The foreign companies bought US$48 billion worth of notebook computers from local manufacturers this year, making it the backbone of foreign high-tech outsourcing in Taiwan. Nine foreign companies have each made over US$2.5 billion in purchases in Taiwan through their local buying offices this year, the III said. Ten foreign firms procured between US$400 million and US$2.5 billion this year, it said.
■labor
Trade Unionists rally
Some 30,000 workers protested yesterday against moves to revise protections for part-time and temporary employees, police and organizers said. Trade unionists gathered at a park in Seoul to rally against plans to re-draw a 2006 law forcing bosses of “irregular workers” to hire them as permanent staffers or fire them after two years. The ruling conservative Grand National Party and the labour ministry plan to extend the period to four years, sparking protests from opposition parties and labour unions. There were no immediate reports of any clashes during the rally.
■finance
Capital flow under threat
The global financial crisis risks causing a 50 percent slide in capital flows to developing nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America next year, according to the World Bank’s chief economist. “We must intensify our efforts to catalyze and leverage private capital in support of development,” including the use of public-private partnerships, World Bank Senior Vice President Justin Lin (林毅夫) said in a statement prepared for delivery yesterday to a UN development conference in Doha, Qatar. Lin’s statement said developing countries are entering a “danger zone” where economic growth could slow to 4.5 percent next year from an average of 7.8 percent in 2006 and last year. Every percentage point decline will push 20 million people into poverty, according to his statement.
■Banking
Commission blocks plan
The European Commission is blocking the French government’s plan to bail out its six largest banks by insisting that state funds can not be used for commercial lending, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Friday on its Web site. According to the report, EU Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes has rejected pleas by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to approve the French 10.5 billion euro (US$13.3 billion) plan. In the French plan, the government would subscribe to subordinated five-year debt issued by the six banks. In exchange, the banks committed themselves to increasing their loans to individuals and companies by 3 percent to 4 percent next year.
■internet
Icahn increases stake
Corporate raider Carl Icahn increased his stake in Yahoo following the decision of co-founder Jerry Yang (楊致遠) to step down as head of the Internet firm, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed. Icahn acquired 6.77 million more shares of Yahoo stock from Monday to Wednesday for US$67 million, taking his stake in the firm to 5.4 percent, up from the 5 percent he owned previously, the documents filed with the SEC and dated on Wednesday showed.
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],”