ECFA had no adverse impact
The tariff concessions on imports from China, allowed under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), have not adversely affected domestic industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday.
Since the ECFA took effect in January last year, a total of 267 products from China have been imported with preferential tariffs, the ministry’s International Trade Commission said.
Meanwhile, more than 500 categories of exports to China are eligible for preferential tariffs that will drop to zero over a two-year period, in line with the ECFA’s early harvest program.
Commission Deputy Executive Secretary Juan Chuan-ho (阮全和) said only companies producing four types of chemicals and products — acetic acid, acrylic acid, optical brightener compounds and high-tenacity filament yarns — had been affected by the tariff concessions on imports.
Hino annual sales jump 11%
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車) said yesterday that sales of Hino-brand commercial vehicles hit 5,224 units last year, up 11 percent from a year earlier.
The demand for commercial vehicles, in particular heavy duty trucks, made a strong rebound last year as the government implemented more infrastructure and public transportation projects, Hotai Motor said.
Hotai Motor, which is the sales agent for Japan-based Toyota Motor, also acts as a sales agent for Japanese truck and bus supplier Hino Motors.
Hotai Motor said Hino’s commercial cars were expected to generate NT$11.2 billion (US$373 million) in sales last year, up 12 percent from 2010.
Total sales of commercial automobiles rose 15 percent from a year earlier to 10,355 units last year.
Hon Hai to overhaul party
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract maker of consumer electronics, is to change the format of its year-end party from a traditional extravaganza to a charity event to promote corporate social responsibility, the company said yesterday.
The carnival-like event, scheduled to take place at Taipei Zoo and the adjacent Daonan Stadium on Sunday, is to feature a charity sale gala, donations, concerts and other performances, Hon Hai said.
Hon Hai’s Yonglin Foundation, which chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) established to help underprivileged groups and disadvantaged children pursue education, is to double its amount of charitable funds this year to more than NT$700 million, it said.
Chailease to meet investors
Chailease Finance Co (中租迪和), a Taipei-based leasing company, is planning to meet investors to discuss the possible sale of Dim Sum bonds, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, Bank of China (中國銀行) and Standard Chartered PLC are arranging the meetings, the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.
The company is scheduled to meet with investors in Singapore on Tuesday and in Hong Kong on Wednesday, the person said.
Central bank bolsters US dollar
The New Taiwan dollar rose against its US counterpart yesterday, closing up NT$0.002 at NT$30.000 as foreign institutional investors moved funds to Taiwan, dealers said.
The central bank intervened again in late trading to slow the appreciation of the local currency by propping up the US dollar, dealers said.
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
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts