TELECOMS
Chunghwa eyes Thailand
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday held a launch ceremony for its Thailand subsidiary in Bangkok, the company said in news release, adding that it would seek collaboration with Thai businesses in the areas of data services, information technology and communications, and the Internet of Things. The collaborations would be similar to its partnerships through its subsidiaries in Vietnam and Singapore, the company said. The three subsidiaries are to be a focal point as the company reaches out to other Southeast Asian nations as it plays a key role in the government’s “new southbound policy,” Chunghwa Telecom said.
AUTOMAKERS
RAC gets new chairman
Electric vehicle manufacturer RAC Electric Vehicles Inc (華德動能) held a board election yesterday, with Kim Tsai (蔡裕慶) replacing Alex Tsai (蔡易忠) as chairman, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Kim Tsai, who also serves as chairman of auto parts maker Mobiletron Electronics Co (車王電子), said the two companies have collaborated in the “smart” connection of electric buses. He said RAC would bolster its long-term partnerships with other companies in the electric bus supply chain and seek business opportunities around the world. Alex Tsai is to serve as vice chairman and president of the company, RAC said.
BANKING
Number of cards increases
As of the end of May, the number of credit cards in circulation in the nation reached 40.97 million, compared with 40.72 million at the end of April, Financial Supervisory Commission data released on Thursday showed. The revolving balance totaled NT$107.1 billion (US$3.52 billion), down 0.2 percent from the previous month, with the underlying nonperforming loan ratio sliding to 0.26 percent from 0.27 percent over the period, the data showed. Credit-card spending at the end of May rose 15.09 percent month-on-month to NT$216 billion, translating into per card spending of NT$5,272, the commission said, attributing the increase to Mother’s Day. The biggest spending in May was by holders of credit cards issued by Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the major banking entity of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), with transactions of NT$41.2 billion, the commission said.
BANKING
Rise in loans to SMEs
Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rose NT$56.81 billion month-on-month to NT$5.826 trillion as of the end of May, Banking Bureau data released on Thursday showed. The amount accounted for 59.12 percent of total corporate loans and 61.8 percent of total loans extended to the private sector, the bureau said in a statement on its Web site. The underlying bad loan ratio remained at 0.46 percent, the bureau said.
SOLAR WAFERS
Gigastore shares plummet
Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) shares yesterday plunged 8.2 percent after the Intellectual Property Court a day earlier ruled that the company needs to pay Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips NV NT$1.04 billion over a patent infringement lawsuit filed in 2015. Gigastorage is also responsible for one-third of the cost of the lawsuit, according to the court’s ruling released on Thursday. Gigastorage said the company is operating normally and is evaluating any potential effects to its financial status. The company said it plans to appeal the case. The shares closed at NT$17.9, after hitting a low of NT$17.5 earlier yesterday.
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