PETROLEUM
CPC, Formosa leave prices
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) have decided to leave the prices of their gasoline and diesel products unchanged this week from last week, separate statements issued by the nation’s two oil refiners indicated.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai revenue rises
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported revenue of NT$312.69 billion (US$9.91 billion) for last month, a rise of 6.75 percent year-on-year and 6.72 percent month-on-month. The company attributed the increase to higher shipments of its computing, consumer electronics and communication products. The company’s revenue will continue improving this month, following Apple Inc’s launch of the iPhone 7, analysts said.
TELECOMS
Mobile firms’ profits edge up
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) on Friday separately reported slight profit increases for last month on contribution from their 4G services. Taiwan Mobile’s net profit rose 3.7 percent to NT$1.4 billion from July, while Far EasTone posted net profit of NT$1.077 billion for last month, up 0.2 percent month-on-month.
FAMILY CARE
Cayman eyes postpartum
Children’s clothing manufacturer Cayman Tung Ling Co (東凌) on Friday said that it plans to operate two luxury postpartum care centers in Shanghai and Kunshan next year, in a bid to increase revenue sources. The company under the PIYO PIYO brand reported sales of NT$79 million last month, a decline of 16 percent year-on-year. In the first eight months, its total sales decreased 19 percent annually to NT$687 million.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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