ENERGY
CPC cuts gas prices
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday announced price cuts for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) this month. Effective today, prices for household LPG are to drop by NT$1.4 per kilogram and NT$0.7 per liter for LPG used in cars, CPC said. Prices per cubic meter for LNG are 6.05 percent on average lower than last month, it said. As a result, the price for a 20kg household gas cylinder will decrease by NT$28, while an average consumption of between 30m*3* and 45*3* LNG per month would mean savings of between NT$21.9 and NT$32.85 for each household, CPC said.
BANKING
Formosa secures loan
Formosa Industries Corp (台灣興業), a unit of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), yesterday secured a US$138 million syndicated loan, aiming to finance its ongoing coal-fired power generation facilities and textile plant projects in Vietnam. The five-year syndicated loan was led by CTBC Bank (中信銀行) along with another eight banks, including Japan’s Mizuho Bank Ltd and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, as well as Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), the company said.
SOFTWARE
Windows 10 launch unveiled
Microsoft Corp yesterday announced its new operating system, Windows 10, is to be available on July 29 in 190 countries for PCs and tablets as a free upgrade to people using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, or on new Windows 10 devices, according to a statement distributed by PRNewswire. Windows 10 for other devices will be available later this year.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Drug application submitted
Anti-cancer drug developer PharmaEngine Inc (智擎生技) yesterday said it had submitted a new drug application (NDA) to the Food and Drug Administration for MM-398 (irinotecan liposome injection) in patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based therapy. The move came after the company’s licensing partner Baxter International Inc last month submitted a marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency for MM-398 and another licensing partner, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc, filed an NDA for the new drug with the US Food and Drug Administration.
ELECTRONICS
Ichia revenue falls 40.82%
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday said its revenue dropped 40.82 percent from the previous year to NT$616.42 million (US$19.93 million) last month, a fall of 8.62 percent from April, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Sales generated from the company’s flexible printed-circuit integrated components were NT$479 million last month, accounting for 78 percent of total sales, while those of mechanical integrated components, including items used for BlackBerry devices’ keyboards, were NT$148 million. In the first five months of this year, Ichia made NT$3.17 billion in revenue, down 35 percent from a year earlier, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Tobii, Micro-Star ink deal
Swedish eye-tracking technology firm Tobii AB and Taiwanese gaming notebook maker Micro-Star International Co (微星科技) have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation. Under the framework of the memo, the two companies hope to stimulate the development of eye tracking in computer games, as well as to explore the possibility of launching gaming computers with integrated eye tracking, the companies said in a press release on Saturday.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last