The government should continue to push for the passage of the cross-strait service trade and trade in goods agreements, but it should also upgrade the nation’s industry to enhance its competitive edge, the head of the Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders’ Association said yesterday.
Cho Yung-tsai (卓永財), who is also chairman of Hiwin Technologies Corp (上銀), made the remarks in the wake of the crushing defeat of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the nine-in-one elections that has thrown into limbo the long-stalled cross-strait service trade pact and ongoing talks on a trade in goods agreement.
Cho said that cross-strait exchanges should continue, adding that the trade in goods pact is less controversial and should proceed.
The controversial parts of the service trade pact, which was signed in June last year, but remains held up in the legislature, could be put aside, while the uncontroversial parts should be promoted, he said.
He said that Taiwan should continue to open its economy, adding that if Taiwan is to have sharpen its competitive edge, it should not only have a few good enterprises, but should also upgrade its industry.
He said that the machine tool sector has transformed and upgraded, and local machine tool manufacturers are now capable of producing high-end products.
He urged the government to step up its promotion of industrial transformation to help industries that are vulnerable to the impact of the service trade agreement, trade in goods pact and free-trade agreements to tide them over their difficulties.
Cho also said that if the government wants to encourage young people to start businesses, it needs to change its policy. He was referring to gains on stock sales of enterprises that have not been listed in the local bourse.
He also said that land costs in Taiwan are too high for young people to start their businesses.
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