TECHNOLOGY
HTC sells 15,000 Vives
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said that it has pre-sold more than 15,000 units of the HTC Vive, the first virtual-reality device from the Taiwanese electronics maker, amid high hopes that the new gadget will help the company create an additional revenue source to offset the impact of stiff competition in the global smartphone market. HTC virtual reality development operations manager Shen Ye (沈燁) disclosed the sales figure on Twitter. HTC shares yesterday rose 1.87 percent to close at NT$81.8 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
CYCLING
Show to generate US$560m
This year’s Taipei International Cycle Show is expected to generate more than US$560 million in business opportunities, organizers said. Despite the nation’s lagging exports, which have been contracting over the past twelve months, the bicycle industry has maintained resilient growth amid the global economic downturn, Taiwan External Trade Development Council president and chief executive officer Peter Huang (黃文榮) said. The event begins tomorrow at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center and the Taipei World Trade Center and runs through Saturday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
HMI approves dividends
Semiconductor inspection tool and equipment maker Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) yesterday said its board has approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$16 per common share. That represents an about 49 percent payout ratio, compared with the company’s earnings per share of NT$32.7 last year, and an about 1.85 percent cash dividend yield from HMI’s closing price of NT$866 yesterday. HMI’s net income for last year fell 28 percent annually to NT$2.32 billion (US$69.4 million), after sales dropped 8 percent year-on-year to NT$6.65 billion.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Workforce needs hit low
Demand for workforce in Taiwan in the period from last month to next month is expected to drop this year to the lowest level since the 2009 financial crisis, due to the global economic slowdown, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday, citing a survey. Among businesses that employ 30 or more workers, only 18.17 percent are considering hiring in the three-month period, while 4.28 percent are planning to hire fewer new employees than in the previous three months. Total new workforce demand during the three-month period was previously estimated at 30,537 workers, but employment of new workers is to drop by 11,203. New hiring is to increase by 19,334 in the period, the lowest figure for that period in the past seven years, representing a 57 percent annual decline, the ministry said.
LOGISTICS
Yang Ming opens in Russia
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation (陽明海運) has formed a new subsidiary in Russia, Yang Ming (Russia) LLC. The new company has already begun providing a full array of agency services. Russia is strategically located between eastern Europe and western Asia, and its economy has been growing steadily in recent years, the company said. Expanding into the country fits with the company’s business goals of integrating neighboring markets, the company added. Yang Ming has deployed two routes that each week call at major ports in Russia — St Petersburg and Novorossiysk respectively — to offer services to the Baltic Sea and Black Sea areas.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last