CHAMBERS
Amcham elects new chair
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei has elected Thomas Fann (范炘), president of the Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和), as the trade group’s chairman, starting next year. Fann had been serving as acting chairman since September, following the transfer of Alan Eusden of Corning Display Technologies back to the US. Fann joined Ford as a senior engineer in 1993 and was named president of Ford Lio Ho last year.
LCD PANELS
Innolux to issue 2bn shares
Innolux Corp (群創光電), the nation’s largest LCD panel maker, said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that it planned to issue as many as 2 billion common shares via rights issue for local investors, or for global investors. The proceeds will be used in expanding factory capacities, raw material purchase and to repay bank loans, the filing showed.
TRADE FAIRS
US$1.65bn raised in China
Taiwan has held five trade fairs in China this year that have drawn 1.19 million visitors and generated US$1.65 billion in new business for Taiwanese companies taking part in them, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said yesterday. Since the first event, the TAITRA has hosted 27 such fairs in 16 Chinese cities, that have generated US$11.97 billion in new business and helped open doors to Taiwanese products in the Chinese market, it 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