MANUFACTURING
Index remains ‘blue’
The composite index for the manufacturing industry remained “blue” in October, although the overall score rose from 9.64 in September to 10.45 as stabilizing crude oil prices raised production costs, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台經院) said yesterday. The rating reflected recession in manufacturing sectors, despite robust improvement in exports and imports. The index, which aims to measure the health of the manufacturing industry by looking at demand, prices, production costs, material costs and the operating environment, is approaching the brink of shifting gears, the Taipei-based think tank said.
PANELMAKERS
Innolux vows integrity
Innolux Corp (群創), the nation’s biggest LCD panelmaker, yesterday said it would protect its secrets from rivals to safeguard shareholders’ interest. The statement came after local media reports said that 48 former Innolux employees now work at Chinese flat-panel maker Caihong Photoelectric (彩虹光電), triggering fears of corporate espionage. The report said the employees were involved in the construction of Innolux’s latest 8.6G plant in Miaoli County and a 6G factory in Kaohsiung. Innolux said it did not invest in Caihong, nor has it inked any technological exchange agreements with the Chinese rival.
SMARTPHONES
Lenovo launches Moto Z
Lenovo Group Ltd-owned (聯想) Motorola yesterday launched its flagship smartphone Moto Z series in Taiwan, marking the brand’s official return to the local market. The Chinese company introduced two smartphones, the Moto Z and the Moto Z Play, with prices ranging from NT$13,900 to NT$20,900. The devices feature Moto Mods snap-on modules that can turn them into convertible smartphones. Lenovo general manager for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Ted Chen (陳泰麟) told a news conference that the company is upbeat about its sales outlook for the products, but did not provide any target figures.
EMPLOYMENT
Part-time figures rise
Taiwan had a total of 792,000 part-time, temporary and dispatch workers in May, the highest figure in nine years, according to data published by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday. The working population in the same period totaled 11.247 million, with those employed part-time, or on a temporary or dispatch basis accounting for 7.04 percent. The figures represent an increase of 11,000, or 0.06 percentage points, from the same month last year. The DGBAS said 663,000, or 83.75 percent, of part-time, temporary and dispatch workers said they did not want to find new jobs or work additional hours.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Adimmune touts vaccine
Adimmune Corp (國光生技) yesterday said that a new vaccine developed by its subsidiary has made progress toward commercialization. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has accepted the findings of phase II clinical trials for enterovirus type 71, which was developed by Enimmune Corp (安特羅生物科技), Adimmune said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Adimmune said that its enterovirus vaccines lead all other domestically developed vaccines of the same class and that it would begin phase III trials soon. Adimmune shares yesterday gained 3.5 percent in Taipei trading to end on NT$23.65.
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