ELECTRICITY
Taipower eyes profit hike
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said that it hopes to raise the “reasonable” profit margin to 6 percent in the new rate pricing formula in an attempt to repay the company’s accumulated losses of NT$208.4 billion (US$6.57 billion). Taipower’s remark came after newly appointed Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) promised lawmakers to remove “reconstruction costs” from the pricing formula. Taipower said given that “reconstruction costs” are no longer in the formula, boosting the profit margin from 3.42 percent would help it recover financially over the next 10 years as scheduled. The upward adjustment in the profit margin would result in a price hike in electricity bills as well, Taipower said. The legislature is scheduled to hold a public hearing over the pricing formula tomorrow.
AUTOMAKERS
Foxconn, Harmony ink deal
Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, yesterday said that one of its subsidiaries spent HK$608 million (US$78.36 million) to acquire shares in China Harmony Auto Holding (中國和諧汽車), a Zhengzhou, China-based company listed in Hong Kong. Hon Hai said that Foxconn (Far East) acquired 128.734 million shares at a price of HK$4.73 per share, accounting for 10.53 percent of all shares in China Harmony. Hon Hai said that the deal totaled HK$608,911,820, adding that the investment is aimed toward industrial cooperation and developing new business. Market sources said that Hon Hai’s buying into China Harmony is a strategy for marketing electric cars in China. China Harmony focuses mainly on high-end luxury and super-luxury brands and aims to become China’s first luxury-only auto dealer. It has 46 outlets and after-sales service centers across China, including in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xiamen, Wuhan and Xian. Hon Hai announced in September that it was investing in the electric auto industry in Shanxi Province, China.
CHIPMAKERS
Legislature bans share sale
The legislature’s Economic Committee on Monday ruled that the National Development Fund cannot sell 176.85 million shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top contract chipmaker, as the investment provides steady income for the nation. The government previously planned to sell the shares for NT$21.34 billion. However, legislators perceived the decision as short-sighted and demanded that the government come up with alternative income sources.
SHIPPING
Evergreen names new head
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container shipping firm, announced on Monday that its board of directors has appointed Lawrence Lee (李孟傑) to be the company’s president as of Thursday next week. Lee is set to replace Scott Chang (張新億), who has held the position since last year, with Chang scheduled to stay on within the Evergreen Group (長榮集團) in another role, which the company has yet to specify. Joining Evergreen Marine in 1978, Lee, 62, has worked in the US, the UK, Germany and Panama, while serving as Unigreen Marine SA (立青海運) chairman and concurrently as Evergreen Marine (Latin America) SA president from last year.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”