Taiwanese shares slide
Share prices closed lower yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 173.41 points, or 2.23 percent, to close at 7,598.72.
The market opened lower at the day’s high of 7,697.79 and fell to a low of 7,574.06 before rebounding slightly at the end of the session. Turnover totaled NT$86.595 billion (US$2.624 billion).
All eight major stock categories lost ground, with textile issues dropping the most at 3.01 percent. Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net sellers of NT$10.168 billion in shares.
Quanta eyes cloud computing
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest notebook contract manufacturer, said yesterday that it expects cloud computing technology to start making a contribution to the company’s revenue in 2012.
“Development of cloud computing is a long-term effort for Quanta. We are in an early stage of development,” a company official said. “Although we do not expect the particular technology to make any significant share in the company’s revenue any time soon, the initial contribution is expected to be seen in 2012.”
She said Quanta is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in developing cloud computing.
“We are still looking for further partners for new technology development in an attempt to build a feasible business model,” she said.
Barry Lam (林百里), chairman of Quanta, said Sunday that his company will try its best to develop its profile in cloud computing to boost its international standing.
He said Quanta aims to rank among the largest 300 enterprises in the world by boosting its sales to top NT$1 trillion this year, compared with NT$750 billion recorded last year.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs says the government will invest a total of NT$24 billion in cloud computing technology from this year through 2014.
The private sector is expected to invest NT$100 billion into developing the new technology and to create 50,000 jobs and NT$1 trillion in production value in the five-year period, the ministry said.
LCD supplies low: AUO
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the country’s second-largest maker of LCDs, has received more orders than it can fill in the second half of this year.
Demand from clients were for a wide range of panel products, including TVs, computer monitors and notebook computers, Hsiao Ya-wen (蕭雅文), a spokeswoman for the Hsinchu-based firm said by telephone, citing chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀).
Shin Kong sells land to Fubon
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金) said in an exchange filing yesterday it sold property in Taipei City’s Neihu District (南港) to Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) for NT$4.7 billion and expects to book a profit of NT$1.98 billion on the sale. Fubon reported the same transaction in a separate filing.
In related news, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that the government will enforce a buyback of land in Taipei that isn’t used within three years of purchase.
The buyback will be made at the original sale price and applies to state-owned non-public land above 100 ping (330.6m²) in size, the statement said.
ANZ seeks Asian expansion
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd wants to set up private-banking operations in Taiwan, Indonesia and India, said Bill Foo, vice-chairman of South and Southeast Asia.
Speaking at a press event in Singapore yesterday, Foo said the bank plans to hire about 500 people in Singapore in the next year.
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