MOBILE PHONES
HTC rating upgraded
A Japanese foreign brokerage has upgraded its stock rating on Taiwanese mobile-phone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) from “reduce” to “neutral,” citing an enhanced product portfolio that might lead to greater sales growth this year. Under new rules set by the Financial Supervisory Commission, the name of the brokerage cannot be reported because it is offering specific forecasts. The brokerage said in a research note on Wednesday that HTC’s strategies for this year are more flexible than previously, with more aggressive product lineups covering different market segments and an outsourcing approach that could accelerate the company’s time to market and increase the number of its products without adding to operating expenses too much. Adopting more MediaTek Inc (聯發科) chipsets for both high-end and entry-level phones could also help HTC reduce costs and shorten the design cycle, the brokerage said. The brokerage raised its price target for HTC shares from NT$125 to NT$172.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook to get Taipei team
Facebook Inc yesterday announced that it would set up a small team based in Taipei to better support businesses in the nation. There are a few key areas of focus for the company, with the top priority to educate businesses, helping them understand and reap the benefits of the Facebook platform, the world’s largest social network said in a statement. Facebook said it intends to hold workshops, “hackathons” and roadshows throughout the year, targeted specifically at advertising and media agencies, small and medium-sized businesses, brands and developers. “Taiwan is a priority market for Facebook. We want to help local businesses, both big and small, to grow locally and regionally,” said Dan Neary, Facebook’s vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “We have seen small businesses, like online seafood retailer i3fresh, grow their market share and experience a threefold increase in sales through their campaigns on Facebook. Brands like Estee Lauder were also able to leverage Facebook to reach specific target audience groups,” he said.
EMPLOYMENT
Wages hitting headcount
Taiwanese companies will not be able to easily satisfy their human resources needs given the slow wage increases in the nation, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan. The annual Michael Page Salary and Employment Forecasts for the Greater China region, conducted jointly with recruitment consultancy Michael Page, showed that the nation’s job market has been underperforming compared with those of developed Asian economies and that there is much room for improvement. Taiwan has many technology firms focusing on innovation and some of them are hiring, seeking designers of electronic goods, and experts in research and development, the survey said. However, a serious brain drain continues to affect the nation, as it has experienced very little wage inflation, with salaries for new graduates not having risen in a decade, according to the survey. “Companies — particularly tech companies — from China, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as other places, including California, target Taiwanese talent,” said Chris Preston, regional director of Michael Page Taiwan.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy