ENERGY
CPC hikes LPG prices
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it would raise prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) items, while keeping those for liquefied natural gas (LNG) products unchanged from last month. From today, prices for household LPG are to increase by NT$1.9 per kilogram and by NT$1.1 per liter for LPG used in cars to reflect an increase in international LPG contract prices, CPC said in a statement. The price of a 20kg household gas cylinder — often used by families, restaurants and food stands — is to increase by NT$38.
TELECOMS
Note 8 pre-orders end
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said it has completed pre-orders for Samsung Electronics Co’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 8, on the first day of the campaign. The orchid gray model was the most popular among Taiwanese, making up 60 percent of pre-orders, Chunghwa said in a statement. Orchid gray is an exclusive color for the Taiwanese market. People who placed pre-orders can start receiving the device on Sept. 12 at the earliest, the company said. Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday also began taking pre-orders for the Note 8, which are to run for a week.
GOVERNMENT
MOU signed with US firm
The Ministry of Economic Affairs inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Rockwell Automation Inc in Cleveland, Ohio, to join forces in exploring “smart” machine business opportunities, the ministry said yesterday. Taiwanese firms and Rockwell are to codevelop “smart” manufacturing systems based on the MOU, the ministry said in a press statement, without naming the local companies. The collaboration is expected to increase Taiwanese machinery makers’ competitiveness in the field of “smart” machinery, given the US company’s strong capability in industrial automation technologies and its global presence, the ministry said.
GOVERNMENT
El Salvador tariffs reduced
Taiwan on Wednesday signed four resolutions with El Salvador following the second annual Taiwan-El Salvador-Honduras free trade agreement (FTA) executive committee meeting in Taipei. The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday said that the two nations agreed to make annual reductions in tariffs on each other’s exports, including aloe vera juice, jello and tape from Taiwan, and dried pineapple, dried mango, dried plantain and dried banana from El Salvador. The 5 to 10 percent tariffs are to be reduced to zero in 10 years’ time, the ministry said. The FTA was signed on May 7, 2007, and went into effect in 2008.
TECHNOLOGY
Taipei to host IT congress
This year’s World Congress on Information Technology (IT) is to be held in Taipei from Sunday next week to Sept. 13, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. This year’s theme will be “Living the Digital Dream,” addressing challenges and potential opportunities faced by digital economies and “smart” cities with particular reference to high-level policies, transformation strategies, technology application and business models, the ministry said. More than 900 foreign visitors from 80 nations are expected to attend, it added. The congress was launched in 1978 by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance and has since become a premier international IT forum. Taiwan last hosted the congress in 2000.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure