Bond yield edges lower
The yield on Taiwan’s benchmark 10-year bonds was near a three-month low yesterday as a deteriorating outlook for the local economy spurs demand for the safest assets.
“Yields have been falling for a while because of the economic conditions,” said James Wang, a fixed-income trader at Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) in Taipei. “Investors originally thought the central bank would not cut rates this month, but now there are some noises in the interest-rate swaps market suggesting a drop.”
Volkswagen models recalled
Three Volkswagen vehicle models — the Golf, Passat and Tiguan — have been recalled for inspections because an engine fault has been discovered, distributor Taikoo Motors Ltd (太古汽車) said yesterday.
Taikoo, the sole appointed Volkswagen importer in Taiwan, said there is a glitch in the fuel injection system of the 2009-2010 models, which are equipped with 2.0 turbo direct injection diesel engines. The fault affects 629 vehicles imported into Taiwan.
The fuel injection pipes can resonate under certain conditions, which is likely to lead to the formation of cracks in the long term. It could also cause fuel leakage and permanent engine failure following a flameout.
Taikoo Motors said it will notify the owners of the cars and added that the inspection and repair of the fault takes about one hour.
PChome denied trademark
Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Court ruled that “24h Shopping” (24h 購物) couldn’t be a trademark belonging to PChome Online (網路家庭) on the grounds that the phrase underscores the convenience of shopping online, but not an offer exclusive to a company’s brand.
The online shopping portal asserted its exclusive right to “24h Shopping” as it took the lead by launching a service in 2007 which guarantees that consumers could shop on its site and have their goods delivered within 24 hours.
Shoppers will be compensated with a NT$100 if PChome fails to deliver the products on time, it said.
Pegatron shares dip 1.7%
Shares of Pegatron Corp (和碩), a contract maker of notebooks, desktops and e-readers, slid 1.7 percent to NT$31.60 yesterday — its lowest close since Dec. 6, after an explosion was reported at its Chinese affiliate.
An explosion on Saturday afternoon at Ri-Teng Computer Accessory (Shanghai) Co’s (日騰電腦配件) factory injured employees and resulted in minor damage to some equipment.
The injured employees were kept at the hospital for observation after the explosion.
Ri-Teng is a Pegatron associate company.
“The automation equipment damaged by the explosion can be tuned and used again for production,” a Pegatron statement said. “The impact on production and business operations is expected to be minimal.”
Lavazza eyes Asia
Luigi Lavazza SpA wants to form partnerships in Asia as the Italian coffee maker seeks international growth.
China, India and Japan offer the most potential for Turin, Italy-based Lavazza, CEO Antonio Baravalle said in a telephone interview. He did not identify possible partners.
Lavazza, which owns 6 percent of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc, plans to introduce its line of Lavazza-Keurig coffee machines to the US in December next year, Baravalle said.
Lavazza said Friday that this year’s sales were in line with the previous year’s at 1.25 billion euros (US$1.63 billion), while record raw-material prices led to a decline in profit.
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],”
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
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