Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), warned that Shanghai’s new free-trade zone will have a “big impact” on Hong Kong, urging the territory to up its game to avoid losing out, his office said yesterday.
China will allow unfettered exchange of its yuan currency in its first free-trade zone, according to draft plans revealed exclusively by Agence France-Presse earlier this month, in a bold push to reform the world’s second largest economy.
The proposals showed the new Shanghai zone as an international trade and financial center, which analysts say would challenge the free economy of Hong Kong.
The free-trade zone “will have a big impact on Hong Kong,” Li said, in a summary of remarks issued by his office yesterday.
“The free convertibility of the yuan will be favorable in the development of Shanghai,” he said.
“If Hong Kong does not catch up, it will lag behind others,” Li said, adding that Hong Kong’s GDP is already lower than that of Singapore.
When asked if Shanghai could catch up with Hong Kong within five to 10 years, he said: “I do not want to predict. But it will be faster than most people expect.”
Li, 85, also warned that the pro-democracy movement Occupy Central could harm the economy.
“It will have a negative impact on the economy and will affect Hong Kong’s image as an international finance center,” he said.
After starting out in business as a maker of plastic flowers, Li now commands a vast empire through Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd (長江實業) and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (和記黃埔), with global assets in property, telecoms, utilities, ports and retail. He has a net worth of about US$31 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Reports that he is selling his Hong Kong-based supermarket chain ParknShop have triggered fears he was going to pull his businesses out of the territory. However, he has pledged not to leave Hong Kong.
“I love Hong Kong, I love the country. Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa won’t be moved away from Hong Kong,” he said.
Li initially made the comments at a press lunch on Tuesday.
The draft free-trade zone plan for Shanghai showed the new zone would support the establishment of foreign and joint venture banks and welcome privately funded financial institutions.
At present, China’s banking sector is overwhelmingly dominated by state-run institutions.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
Semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to double this year, as manufacturers in the industry are keen to expand production to meet strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications, according to SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. Speaking at a news conference before the opening of Semicon Taiwan trade show tomorrow, SEMI director of industry research and statistics Clark Tseng (曾瑞榆) said semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to grow by an annual 100 percent this year, beating an earlier estimate of 70 percent growth. He said that Taiwan received a boost from a
RSS