Wei Lih Jah Jan Men (維力炸醬麵), a 38-year-old Taiwanese instant noodle brand, topped RT-Mart International Ltd’s (大潤發) best-selling instant noodle list last year, according to a recent report released by the hypermarket chain operator.
The report shows RT-Mart sold about 2.5 million packs of Wei Lih Jah Jan Men noodles last year, a rise of 25 percent from a year earlier and pushing the brand up one notch from 2015 to put it in first place in last year’s rankings.
The Ramen Rater, a US ramen review Web site, said in a review released in 2015 that Wei Lih Jah Jan Men has “a very nice gauge and chew.”
“The flavor of the noodle is a soybean paste with a very nice kick to it. The broth for sipping has a salty, onion-garlic kind of feel, but a little different. It works so well together,” Ramen Rater added.
RT-Mart said that the production value of Taiwan’s instant noodles ranges between NT$9 billion and NT$9.2 billion (US$287 million and US$293.4 million) per year, and the top 10 instant noodle brands last year largely came from Taiwanese suppliers.
The hypermarket chain said that instant noodles have become one of the favorite late-night snacks for many Taiwanese consumers, adding that some even pack instant noodles into their luggage when they take an overseas trip to reduce homesickness for Taiwanese food.
The RT-Mart report shows Wei Wei A Chicken Noodles (味味A排骨雞麵) in second place, with sales of 2.2 million packs, up 10 percent, but down one notch from a year earlier, as it encountered stiff competition from Wei Lih Jah Jan Men.
Vedan Wei Wei Noodles (味丹味味麵) took third position last year, with 1.82 million packs sold, up 4 percent from a year earlier, ahead of Wei Wang Instant Beef Noodles (味王牛肉麵, 1.8 million packs sold), I Duo Zang Beef Noodles (一度贊紅燒牛肉麵, 1.6 million packs sold), Wei Wei Premium Beef Noodles (味味一品原汁珍味牛肉麵, 1.55 million packs sold), Hua-Tiau Chiew Chicken Noodles (花雕雞麵, 1.3 million packs sold) and Prince Noodles (王子麵, 1.2 million packs sold).
Only two foreign instant noodle brands made the top 10 list, with South Korea’s OTTOGI cheese-flavor ramen coming in ninth (900,000 packs sold), right before Japan’s Nissin Seafood Cup Noodles (800,000 packs sold), RT-Mart said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
RSS