State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it would not alter prices for its gasoline and diesel products in the next three weeks because of a government policy to keep consumer prices steady during the Lunar New Year holiday shopping period.
The company’s decision comes after consumer prices grew 2.03 percent year-on-year last month, hitting their highest rate of growth in 22 months.
The decision not to raise prices also came on the back of a 3.46 percent spike in global crude oil prices last week to US$109.85 a barrel, up from US$106.18 the previous week, which should have prompted a price increase of NT$0.7 a liter for CPC’s gasoline and diesel products based on a CPC pricing mechanism, the company said in a statement posted on its Web site.
CPC blamed the rise in global crude oil prices on Iran’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which oil from Middle Eastern oil exporters must pass on its way to global markets.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only private oil refiner, yesterday did not post its latest pricing information, but the company typically matches CPC’s price adjustments.
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
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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