INVESTMENT
Moody’s maintains ratings
Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday maintained its “Aa3” foreign and local currency sovereign rating for Taiwan with a stable country outlook, according to a statement. The “Aa3” rating, the fourth-highest investment grade under Moody’s scale, reflects the ratings agency’s view of the nation’s strong economic outlook and its low financial and political risks. The agency also adjusted the local currency country risk ceiling and long-term foreign currency bond ceiling by one notch each to “Aa2” from “Aa3,” the statement said. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services in August affirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit rating of “AA-” with a stable outlook.
TELECOMS
IPhone sign-ups available
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said they have started to allow consumers to preorder the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, after Apple said the new iPhones will be available locally on Oct. 25. The two firms said consumers will be able to sign up for the two new models at their outlets countrywide, as well as on their Web sites. They said no further details about sale packages were immediately available. Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) has not announced any sale information for the new phones.
AVIATION
CAL adds charters to Japan
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, yesterday said it will operate two round-trip charter services between Taipei International Airport (Songshan) and Japan’s Matsuyama Airport. The two airports’ names use the same Chinese characters. The charters will be offered today and on Monday as a sign of the friendship between Taiwan and Japan, CAL said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last