ECONOMY
China remittances surge
The nation’s listed companies with operations in China remitted a total of NT$242.3 billion (US$7.35 billion) of their profits made there back to Taiwan in the first three quarters of the year, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday. The figure exceeds the NT$212.9 billion recorded for the whole of last year, the commission said. The largest shares of remittances were from companies in the computer and peripheral equipment sector, as well as the electronic parts and components industry, it said.
REGIONAL DEALS
Taiwan, India sign MOUs
Taiwan and India on Thursday signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on bilateral cooperation related to small and medium-sized enterprises and information and communication technology at a meeting held in New Delhi. During the meeting, the two sides also touched on issues of India helping Taiwan build an industrial park for Taiwanese companies in the South Asian country and a possibility that the two countries will sign an agreement on investment protection.
AVIATION
Tax agreement signed
Taiwan and Macau on Thursday signed a double taxation avoidance agreement on aviation business in Macau, which aims to provide long-term institutionalized protection for aviation businesses on both sides, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Lin Chu-chia (林祖嘉) said. The agreement will also help enhance Taiwan’s international competitiveness in the aviation industry, Lin said.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
Pacific sees profits slump
Pacific Hospital Supply Co (太平洋醫材), the nation’s largest manufacturer of medical supplies, yesterday said its pre-tax profit for last month declined 8.37 percent to NT$32.65 million from the previous year, although sales increased 11.17 percent year-on-year to NT$135.28 million on seasonal factors. Accumulated pre-tax profit for the first 11 months of the year was NT$361.596 million, up from NT$348.116 million the previous year, the company said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Monthly profit ‘unchanged’
State-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) on Thursday reported a net income of NT$1.26 billion for last month, nearly unchanged from one month earlier. The conglomerate attributed the profit to its banking arm, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), which managed to mute losses in non-bank units with a net income of NT$1.35 billion. The conglomerate accumulated NT$14.54 billion in net income for the first 11 months, or NT$1.42 per share.
COMPONENTS
TSMC sales down 22.4%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Thursday reported its sales fell 22.4 percent last month from October, with market analysts attributing the decline to inventory adjustments in a slow season. Consolidated sales reached NT$63.43 billion (US$1.92 billion) last month, the lowest since June and also down 12.2 percent from a year earlier. For the first 11 months of the year, cumulative sales totaled NT$785.15 billion, up 13.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
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],”
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
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