EMPLOYMENT
Hiring intent falls: poll
Only 53 percent of businesses in Taiwan intend to hire new employees in the first quarter of next year, a lower percentage than for the same period over the past four years, according to the results of a survey released yesterday. The figure, down 12 percentage points from the current quarter, reflected growing reluctance among companies to recruit new people amid a sluggish economy. The survey, conducted by online broker 1111 Job Bank, also found that companies are most likely to hire new employees to fill vacancies left by former employees (38.4 percent) or as part of routine recruiting efforts (34.9 percent).
HEALTHCARE
lMedFirst plans more storesl
MedFirst Healthcare Services Inc (杏一醫療), the nation’s largest chain of healthcare stores with medical consultancy, yesterday said it plans to open 10 more stores in Taiwan next year after also opening 10 stores this year. The company has 200 stores in Taiwan and China, MedFirst Healthcare Services said. MedFirst president Jimmy Tsai (蔡德忠) said the company plans to raise NT$600 million to NT$1 billion (US$18.13 million to US$30.22 million) to build a logistics center in Taiwan next year in a bid to expand its operating scale.
BOOKSTORES
lEslite to open more outletsl
Eslite Group (誠品集團) plans to launch outlets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China next year, the group’s subsidiary Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) general manager Lee Chieh-hsiu (李介修) told a media briefing yesterday. Eslite, which runs bookstores, galleries and department stores, opened 10 new or renovated outlets in Taiwan, one in Hong Kong and one in Suzhou, China, this year, Lee said. As part of the efforts to continue expanding the group’s reach in Asia, Lee said Eslite is to open three new outlets, one in Linkou District (林口), New Taipei City, in the Cityplaza mall on Hong Kong Island and one in Shanghai.
COMPUTERS
lReports no worry: Pegatronl
Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tsu-hsien (童子賢) said yesterday that he is not concerned about the entry of Chinese contract notebook makers into the supply chain of Taiwanese PC vendors, as it is more important for Pegatron to continue to improve its competitiveness in the market. Tung’s remarks came after the Apple Daily newspaper reported that Chinese firm BYD Co Ltd (比亞迪) has entered the supply chain for making notebook products for Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc (華碩). Other than being one of the main assemblers for Apple Inc’s iPhones, Pegatron also manufactures notebooks for Asustek. Tung said the market tends to pay close attention to the entry of new firms into the industry, but it is more important for Pegatron to focus on its competitiveness rather than worrying about other firms.
ROBOTICS
lGreater demand predictedl
TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) yesterday said global growth in demand for industrial robots would continue accelerating on account of labor shortages in China and the loss of demographic dividends. TrendForce said in a statement that China has been energetically pushing forward with the transformation of its economy and sales of industrial robots have been growing swiftly in response to the rising demand for automation. TrendForce said it expects China’s industrial robot demand to reach 95,000 units next year, up 26.66 percent from this year’s estimate of 75,000 units.
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
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
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