The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) will submit a proposal on establishing “free economic demonstration zones” to the Cabinet for review later this week, which, if approved, will accelerate economic liberalization and pave the way for achieving the nation’s goal of regional economic integration.
The proposal would ease restrictions on labor recruitment, cash flow, land acquisition and market opening for operations set up within the government-designated free economic zone, CEPD Minister Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said at a press conference yesterday.
Yiin declined to elaborate on details of the proposed deregulation, adding that the Cabinet has the final say on the proposal.
Once the Cabinet approves the council’s proposal, it will send a draft bill for review by the legislature when it begins its new session in February.
Under the government’s plan, the free economic demonstration zone may include one or more regional centers, such as a medical center for severe diseases and medical tourism, an innovation and integration center for industries, a logistics center, a personnel training center, as well as an agricultural transportation and sales center, Yiin said.
Yiin said that the free economic demonstration zone is different from previous government initiatives in that it is not designed for any specific industry.
“All companies can enter the zone if they think they can survive in this environment,” Yiin said.
The council has said that Greater Kaohsiung will be the location for the proposed free economic demonstration zone. Yiin yesterday did not say if other places would be added to the project.
“Any place suitable for free economic demonstration zones has the potential to become one or several of the five [proposed] centers,” Yiin said.
Earlier this year, the Cabinet asked the council to do more research on the creation of a free economic demonstration zone, which represents an important process in the nation’s economic liberalization, as well as a move to create conditions favorable for Taiwan’s inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that several countries like the US, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore are negotiating.
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],”