ECONOMY
National debt rises
The national debt increased to NT$234,000 (US$7,910) per person as of the end of last month, flat from the level seen a month earlier, but still the highest level since the government began publishing the data in December 2010, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. National debt, which includes the central government’s long-term and short-term debt, amounted to NT$5.455 trillion as of the end of last month, data showed.
TEXTILES
Makalot reports sales drop
Fabric supplier Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽實業) reported on Monday its sales fell 10.37 percent to NT$1.35 billion last month from NT$1.51 billion a year ago and dropped 5.15 percent from NT$1.43 billion a month ago, which the company attributed to delayed orders of summer clothes by its clients due to bad weather in the US and Europe. Shipments of summer clothes would will be delayed to this month and next month, Makalot said, adding that sales for this quarter would not be affected.
CONTACT LENSES
Ginko bullish on forecast
Ginko International Co (金可國際), a leading maker of contact lenses and lens-care solution, yesterday forecast its profit margin would improve this quarter because it opened two new production lines in China last month and it expects to receive approval soon from the Taiwanese government to sell its new disposable lenses in Taiwan.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
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