Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), one of the nation’s largest convenience store operators, said yesterday it had decided to continue to expand, using no less than NT$1.5 billion (US$49.3 million) in capital expenditure for next year.
This year, FamilyMart assigned about NT$1.5 billion in capital expenditure to boost its total number of outlets by about 300 to 2,800 by the end of the year.
FamilyMart chairman Pan Chin-ting (潘進丁) said the local economy had been affected by the escalating debt crisis in Europe.
However, Pan added that his company was not deterred at all by the current sluggishness in economic fundamentals and was determined to continue to expand next year.
Pan said he believed convenience store sales would continue to grow, because the business has become a pillar of the local retail sector with consumption remaining consistent.
He added that future investment would focus on establishing a logistics center that is scheduled for inauguration in the first half of next year, while the company would continue to add new outlets all over the nation.
According to FamilyMart, the company will open more large stores, each with an area of between 30 ping (99m2) and 35 ping, to provide venues in which people can socialize, and the outlets will provide more fresh food.
Currently, the convenience store chain operates more than 500 of the larger outlets across the country.
The company is finalizing its expansion plan for next year and deciding how many new stores will be added, it said.
Meanwhile, Pan said the FamilyMart chain in Taiwan would transform itself into a health food supplier and put more emphasis on environmental protection.
Pan said his company would continue to promote roasted sweet potato, which has become popular among local consumers and is expected to generate NT$200 million in sales for FamilyMart this year.
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS