INVESTMENT
Projects win approval
The Investment Commission said on Saturday that it approved five foreign investment projects with a total value of US$104 million at its latest application review meeting. Among the five projects, Singapore-registered Jo Global Investment Pte Ltd is planning to invest about NT$1.03 billion (US$34.33 million) in Taiwan’s Gold Century Paper Co (金盛世紙業), while Himax Imaging Inc (恆景科技), which is registered in the Cayman Islands, is planning to invest NT$19.31 million in sensor and system chip development. Desirable Returns Ltd of the Virgin Islands has secured approval to invest about NT$952 million in real estate.
TRAVEL
Hopefuls vie for jobs
About 5,000 applicants on Saturday flocked to the headquarters of China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) to compete for about 130 flight attendant positions. Compared with an acceptance rate of 4 percent last year, the competition is even more severe this time, the airline said. Those with foreign language skills could have an advantage, it said.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank issues bonds
Deutsche Bank became the first foreign institution to issue yuan-denominated bonds in Taiwan, after the German banking group listed the bonds on the over-the-counter market on Friday. Deutsche Bank is the fifth enterprise to sell yuan debt on the local market. Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀), home appliance supplier Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) have issued a total of 2.8 billion yuan in bonds after the government lifted a ban in early February, allowing local banks to conduct yuan-denominated transactions.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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