Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday said a healthcare foundation he created would work with leading research institutes in Taiwan and other nations to combat breast cancer.
The tycoon made the announcement at a news conference held by the Yonglin Healthcare Foundation in Taipei, saying that he has always been determined to “fight breast cancer with technology.”
In pledging to bring together the world’s medical and academic sectors on a single platform to confront the world’s most resilient disease, Gou said the foundation will form an anti-cancer alliance with the National Taiwan University Cancer Center, China’s BGI (華大基因), US-based Nantworks LLC and HudsAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, as well as Taiwan’s biotech sector.
Photo: CNA
The alliance is to work to determine the genomic code of breast cancer through life science, biotechnology, gene screening and analysis, Gou said.
Gou, whose first wife died of breast cancer in 2005, said “people should turn regret into strength.”
“We believe [we] can bring happiness to humanity,” he said, noting that business opportunities are less important than the chance to live.
“Life is priceless,” he added.
Addressing the alliance, Gou said breast cancer would be its first target, followed by leukemia.
Hon Hai’s cooperation with BGI — known prior to 2008 as the Beijing Genomics Institute — would be like an “industry party” joining hands with a “healthcare party” in the fight against cancer, he said.
BGI, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, is a genome sequencing center. It has been tasked with establishing a Chinese national gene databank and is working to apply its research in genomics to medicine and the germination of agricultural seeds.
At the press conference, BGI president Wang Jian (汪建) said he hopes that in the future, cancer would become a chronic disease that can be controlled.
“Our first objective is to make breast cancer a treatable and controllable disease like liver cancer in the shortest period of time,” Wang said.
Nantworks is a US pharmaceutical company that intends to innovate healthcare by using digital technologies. Also based in the US, HudsonAlpha is a nonprofit institute dedicated to innovation in the field of genomic technology.
Meanwhile, Gou said that he hopes one day the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will jointly establish a special zone for medical care and treatment on Kinmen.
Kinmen “should have a new start as the frontline in the battle against aging, illness and death,” Gou said. “If this is to be achieved in Kinmen, it will begin with health and the promotion of cross-strait peace.”
FORECAST EXCEEDED: China’s curbs on some Taiwanese goods are unlikely to affect trade given inter-reliance in the electronics industries, a finance ministry official said Exports last month spiked 14.2 percent to US$43.32 billion, the second-highest increase on record and the 25th consecutive month of gains, driven by global demand for electronics used in high-performance computing and vehicles, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The ministry expects the trend to sustain this month and beyond, although the pace could slow due to inventory corrections for laptops, smartphones and other consumer electronics. “The July results proved stronger than expected despite rising fears over economic uncertainty,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said, adding that a high sales season in the West and stabilized COVID-19 infections in China
DISMAL OUTLOOK: A Citigroup analyst predicted firms face ‘the worst semiconductor downturn in at least a decade,’ due to inventory build and the potential of a recession Semiconductor stocks tumbled after Micron Technology Inc became the latest chipmaker to warn about slowing demand, triggering concern that the industry is heading into a painful downturn. In the US on Tuesday, the Philadelphia semiconductor index sank 4.6 percent, with all 30 members in the red, its biggest drop in about two months. In Asia, chip stocks from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc and Tokyo Electron Ltd slumped. Investors are growing increasingly skittish as the notoriously cyclical industry is hurtling toward a prolonged slump after years of widespread shortages that led to heavy
MAJOR REVENUE CONTRIBUTOR: The company said that it expects revenue this year to increase annually due to an improved smart consumer electronics outlook Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said revenue this quarter would be flat from last quarter, despite new phone models launched by key customers, as the market faces weakening demand. The iPhone assembler, based in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), said it is cautious about its business outlook, given mounting uncertainty regarding geopolitical tensions, soaring inflation and COVID-19 flare-ups, but still expects revenue this quarter to be higher than the NT$1.4 trillion (US$46.67 billion) it reported a year earlier. The forecast came as the company posted record second-quarter net profit of NT$33.29 billion, up 12 percent year-on-year from NT$29.78 billion.
With a tantalizing array of satay chicken, wok-fried mud crab and chilled tiger prawns, the dinner buffet at Singapore’s Grand Hyatt hotel typically sets diners back about US$70. Those on a tighter budget and with an eye on sustainability can fill a box for one-tenth of that price. Across Asia, tech start-ups are taking food otherwise destined for landfill and providing discounted meals through mobile phone apps. About one-third of food is lost or wasted every year globally, and the mountains of waste are estimated to cause 8 to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, the UN says.
RSS