DIPLOMACY
Minister heads to APEC
Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) yesterday left for the Philippines to attend an annual meeting for trade ministers at the APEC forum, which is to begin today and runs through Sunday on the island of Boracay. Deng said he hopes to use the opportunity to conduct exchanges with his counterparts from APEC member economies. He is also to hold discussions with Japanese representatives on issues related to the nation’s decision to tighten controls on Japanese food products, the ministry said.
COMPUTER SERVICES
IEI optimistic over product
IEI Integration Corp (威強電), a leading industrial computing service provider that integrates computing platforms and customization services, yesterday said it is optimistic about the outlook of its network-attached storage (NAS) product, adding that business could benefit from the “Internet of Things” trend. The company’s NAS products are supplied by subsidiary QNAP Systems Inc (威聯通), which is targeting annual sales of NT$10 billion (US$326 million) in two years. QNAP posted sales of NT$7 billion last year. In the first quarter, IEI Integration’s net income dropped 9.98 percent from a year earlier to NT$334 million, or NT$1.02 per share, with gross margin of 31.65 percent, IEI said in a statement. The company said its sales this quarter would be 15 to 20 percent higher than last quarter’s NT$1.7 billion.
SHOE MAKERS
Fulgent expects sales lift
Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), which produces outdoor shoes, including those that feature waterproof and breathable fabric like Gore-Tex, yesterday said sales would grow significantly in the second half of this year following the completion of new production lines in Cambodia and Vietnam. The company, which also supplies sports footwear, including a range of athletic shoes, said sales for this year would increase by up to 20 percent from last year’s NT$8.55 billion. In the first four months, Fulgent’s cumulative sales grew 12.49 percent to NT$3.12 billion from a year earlier. Net profit for the first quarter increased 76.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$142 million, or NT$1.1 per share, with gross margin of 16.8 percent.
TELECOMS
Chunghwa 4G users rise
Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) number of 4G subscribers has increased to 2.3 million, from 2 million at the end of March, company president Shih Mu-piao (石木標) said yesterday. Chunghwa Telecom targets reaching 3.2 million 4G subscribers this year, or 40 percent of the local market, Shih said.
MACHINERY
Awea acquires Axtron
Awea Mechantronic Co (亞崴機電), which makes bridge-type computer numeric control machinery, has acquired 100 percent of Axtron International Investment Co shares at a cost of NT$200 million to expand its business scale, according to an Awea filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Awea plans to consolidate Axtron, which mainly produces standard machining centers, into Yih Chuan Machinery Industry Co (益全機械), Awea’s plant in China, with expected sales contribution of between NT$1 billion and NT$1.2 billion a year, Awea said. In the first quarter, Awea’s net income fell 1.42 percent from a year earlier to NT$67 million, or NT$0.73 per share, because of a foreign exchange loss of NT$38 million and higher operating expenses due to the relocation of its Suzhou plant.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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