SEMICONDUCTORS
Production set to grow
The production value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is expected to grow 7.2 percent annually to US$75 billion this year, Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA, 台灣半導體產業協會) said yesterday. In comparison, the output of the global semiconductor industry is estimated to contract by 2.4 percent to US$327 billion from last year, the Hsinchu-based association said. Local chip designers, foundry service providers, as well as chip packagers and testers are predicted to see output increase by between 2.6 percent and 13.3 percent this year from last year, according to TSIA director-general Nicky Lu (盧超群).
INTERNET
Pchome shares rise 4.86%
Online shopping portal PChome Online Inc’s (網路家庭) shares jumped 4.86 percent to NT$370 yesterday after company chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) announced a day earlier that the company would launch its new third-party payment and online financing services in the fourth quarter of this year. PChome Online, which gained regulators’ approval in March to operate third-party payment services, expects the online financing platform will extend loans to small and micro-scaled companies, Jan said at a forum in Taipei on Wednesday.
AVIATION
Air Canada flights to resume
Air Canada on Wednesday said that it is planning to resume non-stop flights to Taipei to tap into an increase in Taiwanese tourist numbers. The airline said that if the direct flight plan obtains regulatory approval, it would provide seven flights between Taipei and Vancouver per week, starting from June next year. Air Canada is expected to announce its ticket sales program soon after securing government approval. The airline said that it would assign the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to the new route. Air Canada started a Taipei-Vancouver route in 1999, but suspended it in 2003.
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
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
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