Taiwan and China opened a two-day Conference on Cross-Strait Cooperation and Exchange in the Logistics Services Industry yesterday in Taipei in the hope of creating more business opportunities for both sides.
The meeting was sponsored by the Taipei-based China Productivity Center (中國生產力中心), the Institute for Information Industry (III, 資策會) and the Taipei Computer Association (台北市電腦公會) as part of a project initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) called “Building Bridges.”
The conference attracted more than 300 participants, including 40 from China. Chang Ping-chao (張平沼), chairman of the T General Chamber of Commerce of the ROC (全國商業總會), and President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) president Hsu Chung-jen (徐重仁) were among the attendees.
Lee Mei (李鎂), deputy director of the ministry’s Commerce Department, described the logistics services industry as a key sectors for Taiwan because its production value accounted for nearly 30 percent of GDP last year. He said industry output would reach NT$1.5 trillion (US$46.3 billion) this year.
“Through the conference, the Ministry of Economic Affairs hopes to build a communication bridge for companies in one year and to forge business opportunities in two years that will lead to cooperative ventures in the third year,” Lee said.
Gary Gong (龔仁文), III deputy executive officer, said it would be a “win-win” situation if Taiwan could fully take advantage of China’s cyber population and its vast retail market to create new horizons for its retail, e-commerce and logistics services.
Although Taiwan is strong in e-commerce services, such as online convenience stores and online banks, Gong said the local market has become saturated due to its small scale, while at present, the value of China’s e-commerce market is around NT$275 billion — three times that of Taiwan.
“Should Taiwan get the opportunity to apply its e-commerce experience and retail sales expertise in the Chinese market, it would create a mutually beneficial situation,” he said.
Both Chang and Hsu said they were optimistic about the prospects for cross-strait cooperation in online service businesses at a time when Taiwan is facing the challenge of upgrading its service quality and needs to expand into fresh fields.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six