CPC unveils gas prices
State-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday announced no price changes for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) this month, but said it would cut prices per cubic meter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 1.58 percent on average from last month, according to a press release.
As a result, the price of household LPG remains NT$32.61 per kilogram, the price of industrial LPG will still be in a range from NT$35.3 to NT$35.5 and that of LPG used in cars will be NT$35.3, company data showed.
As for LNG prices, this month’s prices will range from NT$18.34 to NT$20.83 per cubic meter, NT$0.29 lower than last month, the data showed.
Income average reported
Average compensation per employee came in at NT$636,000 last year, with workers in the electricity, gas, finance and insurance sectors earning more than the average, while those in education earned relatively less, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Tuesday.
The annual income represented a 0.6 percent increase from 2012 mainly because of non-salary compensation, especially in large and high-risk businesses, the DGBAS said.
In terms of regular wages, the average employee saw a 1 percent increase last year from the previous year, while non-regular earnings such as overtime pay, vacation and holiday pay and performance bonuses slipped 3.6 percent, the DGBAS said.
Banking assets rise
The total assets of the 62 offshore banking units (OBUs) of banks operating in Taiwan were slightly higher at the end of August than a month earlier, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The total assets of the OBUs rose 0.6 percent from a month earlier to US$184.55 billion, of which US$158.24 billion in assets were held by the OBUs of 38 Taiwanese banks, and US$26.31 billion in assets were held by the OBUs of 24 foreign banks doing business in Taiwan, according to the central bank, attributing the increase in the OBUs’ total assets to rising competition in the market.
Fitch rerates banks
Fitch Ratings yesterday upgraded King’s Town Bank’s (京城銀行) long-term rating to “BBB” from “BBB-” and adjusted upward Jih Sun International Bank’s (日盛銀行) viability rating to “BB” from “BB-,” but maintained its negative outlook on Far Eastern International Bank (遠東國際商銀) and Taichung Commercial Bank (台中商銀).
Fitch said its rating upgrade for King’s Town Bank reflects the bank’s strong capital profile supported by its risk-taking behavior and capital deployment, while Jih Sun’s viability rating upgrade reflects the lender’s core profitability improvement.
The agency said weakening capitalization and further asset quality deterioration were reasons behind its negative outlook on Far Eastern Bank and Taichung Bank.
MediaTek remains fourth
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) remained the world’s fourth-largest supplier of tablet application processors in the second quarter, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Tuesday.
The global tablet application processor market registered 23 percent year-on-year growth to reach US$945 million in the April-to-June quarter, Strategy Analytics said in a report.
Apple Inc maintained its leading position with a 26 percent revenue share, while Intel Corp rose to second with a 19 percent share, pushing Qualcomm Inc to third with a 17 percent share, with MediaTek and Samsung Electronics Co rounding out the top five, the report said.
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
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six