SHOEMAKERS
Pou Chen revenue rises
Footwear manufacturer Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業) yesterday reported that revenue last month rose 1.5 percent year-on-year from NT$21.47 billion to NT$23.7 billion (US$710.2 million to US$783.9 million), backed by stable growth in its core business. Sales in the first three quarters of this year edged up 0.5 percent from NT$204.94 billion to NT$205.89 billion on an annual basis, the firm said in a statement. Shoemaking contributed nearly 70 percent of the firm’s overall revenue, company data showed.
TRANSPORTATION
Air traffic to grow: Boeing
Passenger air traffic in Northeast Asia will grow at an annual rate of 2.2 percent over the next 20 years, backed by the growth of low-cost carriers and a growing middle class that will exceed 75 percent of the region’s population, Boeing Co said. Large network carriers in the region have been reducing the number of seats per flight by nearly 20 percent, while increasing frequency and the number of destinations served, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. After posting the strongest earnings since 2010, the Taiwanese air cargo market has rebounded significantly, with world air cargo yields increasing 8 percent annually this year so far, Tinseth said.
COMPUTERS
Asustek, Acer sales hit highs
PC vendors Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday posted their highest monthly sales this year for last month, supported by robust demand for gaming-related products amid a traditional peak season for consumer electronics. Asustek revenue last month reached NT$45.1 billion, expanding 19 percent monthly, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That raised the firm’s quarterly revenue to NT$114.5 billion last quarter, which was better than its estimate, Asustek said. The firm said shipments of its consumer and gaming notebook computers and motherboards surged more than 20 percent quarterly. Acer said its sales climbed 11.47 percent monthly to NT$22.35 billion last month. That boosted quarterly sales, which expanded 3.4 percent annually to NT$60.57 billion last quarter, it said. Acer attributed the annual growth to rising revenue from gaming-related products.
AUTO PARTS
Iron Force says revenue up
Iron Force Industrial Co (劍麟) yesterday reported revenue of NT$391.9 million for last month, an increase of 4.96 percent from NT$373.4 million a year earlier. However, cumulative revenue for the first three quarters dropped 2.75 percent year-on-year from NT$3.4 billion to NT$3.28 billion, which the firm attributed to a relatively high comparison base. Iron Force distributes airbag inflators, electric steering system components and seat belt pretensioners to global customers.
BANKING
Cathay, FamilyMart team up
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) and Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) yesterday announced a partnership that would expand the payment capabilities of the convenience store chain’s wallet app. By binding Cathay United Bank-issued credit cards to MyFamiPay, customers can pay bills of up to NT$20,000 with the app. Cathay United Bank’s credit cards are also to be accepted at FamilyMart convenience stores. In the first nine months of the year, the app’s 3.6 million users contributed 17 percent of total sales.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group