TAIEX closes nearly flat
The TAIEX came off an early high yesterday, after a mild technical rebound from a 2.11 percent plunge a day earlier amid lingering concerns over the financial crisis in the eurozone, dealers said.
Worries remained about how the new French government would deal with Europe’s debt problems and whether Greece would form a coalition government to tackle its growing debt, following elections in the two countries over the weekend, dealers said.
The benchmark index closed up 7.63 points, or 0.1 percent, at 7,545.71, after moving between 7,522.29 and 7,572.31. Turnover was NT$66.79 billion (US$2.28 billion).
Food scored the highest gains among the market’s eight largest sectors, finishing up 3.6 percent.
Taiwan takes investment hit
Taiwan’s investment environment ranked fourth among 50 countries and second in Asia, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday, citing the results of a survey by a US ratings company.
The survey, conducted by the Washington-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI), showed Taiwan dropping one notch to the world’s fourth-best investment destination, behind Singapore, Switzerland and Norway, the ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan tied with Norway as the world’s third-best investment destination in BERI’s previous rating in January.
Foxconn to set up R&D center
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, plans to build a research and development center in Shanghai’s Pudong District, the Taipei-based conglomerate said in an invitation to a groundbreaking ceremony for the site.
China sales, e-commerce and research teams will be housed in the new complex, which is expected to be completed in early 2015, according to Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) in Taiwan.
Chairman and founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) plans to preside over the event tomorrow, the company said yesterday.
Dongfeng’s Taiwan auto plans
Dongfeng Motor Co (東風汽車), China’s second-biggest auto group, is expected to conclude a deal under which it will begin assembling vehicles in Taiwan by the end of this year, paving the way for more cooperation in the auto industry between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, an industry leader said yesterday.
The move will mark a milestone in cross-strait collaboration in the auto industry, Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association chairman Chen Kuo-rong (陳國榮) said at a public function.
It is seen as part of Chinese carmakers’ ambition to capitalize on Taiwan’s cutting-edge technology and extend their markets, said Chen, who is also president of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), which runs a joint venture with Dongfeng.
LNG imports and prices rise
Taiwan paid 12 percent more for liquefied natural gas (LNG) last month compared with a year earlier as imports rose, customs data showed.
Prices of the fuel rose to US$724 a tonne last month from US$644 a ton a year earlier, data shows. That’s equivalent to about US$13.90 per million British thermal units.
Imports of long-term supplies and cargoes shipped under contracts lasting less than one-year rose by 9.8 percent to 1.11 million tonnes last month, according to the data.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.012 to close at NT$29.370 on turnover of US$846 million during the trading session.
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
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