ECONOMY
Public confidence drops
Public confidence in the nation’s stock market and economic prospects is less optimistic this month than last month, after the nation’s economy contracted by 0.84 percent in the first quarter, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said yesterday. Public confidence in the economy has become bearish since the release of a slew of poor economic data last month, while sentiments on the stock market have also moved downward after several listed companies reported weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter and conservative outlooks for the second quarter, the company said, citing a survey released yesterday.
BANKING
BOT welcomes robots
State-owned Bank of Taiwan (BOT, 臺灣銀行) yesterday celebrated its 70th anniversary with the introduction of service robots at two of its Taipei locations. The humanoid robots, 58cm tall, will greet clients entering the bank, help them obtain a service number, and answer simple inquiries, the bank said. The service is to be launched at the bank’s main branch near the Presidential Office Building and also at its Songjiang branch, company chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) said at a ceremony to introduce the robots, adding that the service would be extended to all branches nationwide. Developed by French company Aldebaran Robotics, the Nao robots have been fitted with software developed by the bank, Lee said.
BANKING
Number transfers introduced
ANZ Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (澳盛台灣) has introduced a new way of carrying out money transfers by using a mobile phone number instead of a bank account number. With immediate effect, ANZ clients who sign up for the new money transfer program will be able to give their mobile telephone numbers registered with the bank to their friends, relatives or business partners, allowing them to transfer money into the client’s ANZ accounts. Earlier this week, Citibank Taiwan Ltd (台灣花旗) announced that it has launched a voice recognition system, making it the first banking institution to offer such technology in the local market.
OIL REFINERS
CPC gets ‘positive’ rating
Fitch Ratings Ltd yesterday affirmed its investment ratings outlook on the nation’s state-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) as “positive.” The ratings agency holds an “A+” long-term foreign currency rating and “AAA(twn)” national long-term rating for CPC. In a statement, Fitch said CPC’s ratings are equalized with Taiwan’s sovereign ratings — at “A+” for long-term foreign-currency rating and “AA-” for long-term local-currency rating — because of its close ties to the government.
COMPONENTS
TXC revenue dips 1.4%
Quartz crystal components maker TXC Corp (台灣晶技) on Tuesday said consolidated revenue dropped 1.4 percent annually in the first four months of the year to NT$2.85 billion (US$869 million), while pre-tax profit from January to last month grew 8.1 percent annually to NT$333.82 million, with earnings per share of NT$1.08. The company, which designs, manufactures and sells frequency-control crystal components, plans to increase capital investment this year in both sensors and temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXO), hoping to boost its growth momentum in the second half of the year, company president Peter Lin (林萬興) said.
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
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
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],”