BANKING
Melbourne branch opens
Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s (合庫銀行) new branch in Melbourne has started operations as it continues to respond to the government’s New Southbound Policy, the bank said yesterday. The bank in 2012 opened its first Australian branch in Sydney. Australia is an important partner in Beijing’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, and an expanded presence in the nation is part of its strategy, the state-run lender said. Australia’s Chinese-speaking population numbers about 530,000, the bank said. A new branch in Phnom Penh is expected to commence operations before the end of the year.
CHIPMAKERS
Elan income doubles in Q2
Touch-panel controller chipmaker Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) yesterday reported that its second-quarter net income rose 124 percent from the previous quarter to NT$290 million (US$9.54 million). Earnings per share were NT$0.7. Sales during the period rose 17 percent from the first quarter to NT$1.87 billion. The company attributed the gains to rising demand for Chinese laptop brands such as those made by Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Xiaomi Corp (小米). Xiaomi laptops are now equipped with its fingerprint sensor solution, Elan said.
AIRLINES
FAT to renew fleet
Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT, 遠東航空) plans to replace its eight older McDonnell Douglas MD-80 airplanes as it develops a new fleet comprised of planes made by ATR, as well as Airbus A320s or A321s, it said yesterday. At a ceremony to unveil the company’s first ATR72-600 aircraft, FAT chief operating officer Tseng Chin-chih (曾金池) said the fleet is to ultimately consist of 20 to 30 planes, including nine ATR planes and 10 to 20 Airbus A320s or A321s, in accordance with the company’s long-term goals. Ticket prices are to be raised to reflect the higher cost of ATR aircraft relative to MD-80s, FAT chairman Chang Kang-wei (張綱維) said.
REAL ESTATE
Sinyi opens in Malaysia
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only publicly listed real-estate broker, yesterday announced that its Malaysia-based subsidiary has begun operations, focusing on the nation’s market for used homes. Kuala Lumpur’s real-estate market is estimated at about 10,000 properties annually, of which 90 percent are used homes purchased by local residents, the firm said. Malaysians have a per capita income of US$11,000, about half of Taiwan’s, it said, adding that the figure is comparable to Taiwan’s earning power in 1993. However, a slight retreat in home prices of 2 to 3 percent has catalyzed demand among the middle class, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
Face of ZenFone 4 named
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) yesterday said that South Korean actor Gong Yoo is to be the Asia-Pacific ambassador for its flagship ZenFone 4 series. Shih did not elaborate. It was reported that Asustek spent more than NT$60 million to close the deal with Gong. The company has not launched any new smartphones this year. The firm hopes the introduction of the ZenFone 4 series, scheduled for next month, will return its smartphone business to growth for the remainder of the year.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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