IBT opens Tianjin office
The Industrial Bank of Taiwan (IBT, 台灣工銀) yesterday opened its representative office in Tianjin, China, making it the first Taiwanese lender to open in that city, the bank said in a statement.
IBT chairman Kenneth Lo (駱錦明) said the bank will seek to upgrade into a branch after a year — in keeping with its plans to expand in greater China — which would focus on banking, capital leasing, trust and industrial financing businesses.
The bank is planning to set up its third financial leasing outlet in China in the second half of this year.
Acer’s EMEA building finished
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 4 PC brand, said on Monday that its new building for its EMEA — Europe, the Middle East and Africa — headquarters has been completed and is ready to house Acer’s main operations in the region.
Acer’s EMEA headquarters has been in the Swiss canton of Ticino for nine years. The new building is situated in Bioggio, near the Lugano airport and major highways, the company said in a statement.
Acer said the building would accommodate up to 250 employees, giving the firm space to expand its operations in line with business needs.
Lottery winner aids Taichung
A lottery winner in Greater Taichung yesterday donated NT$6 million (US$203,400) to the city government, which Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said will help thousands of underprivileged people.
The donor shared the top prize of NT$414.9 million with one other winner. He donated NT$12 million of his NT$207 million share to the city government and to the Chinatrust Charity Foundation.
Taiwan Lottery Co (台灣彩券) chairman Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) and president Joy Huang (黃志宜) presented the donation to Hu on behalf of the winner.
Inflation forecast raised
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has raised its forecast for inflation in Taiwan to 2.2 percent this year from 2 percent following the government’s announcement of major increases in power rates.
The bank also revised upward its inflation forecast for next year from 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent, saying Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) was likely to continue to feel the effect of the latest price hikes into next year, according to a research note released on Monday.
Taipower stops drilling holes
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said yesterday it would immediately stop drilling at Sioulin Township (秀林), Hualien County, after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) last week accused the company of drilling holes in the township in preparation for a nuclear waste storage dump.
Taipower denied the accusation. It reiterated in a statement that the drilling was part of nationwide granite texture inspections, but that it would only restart drilling after winning approval from local communities and the legislature.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose against the US dollar, adding NT$0.022 to close at NT$29.542 as exporters cut their greenback positions throughout the trading session, dealers said.
The buying in the NT dollar reflected market expectations that the central bank will allow the unit to rise further in response to inflationary pressure caused by recent hikes in domestic fuel prices and planned electricity rates, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$539 million during the trading session.
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
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
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
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],”