INTERNET
Faster deliveries sought
PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) is to let its subsidiary PChomestore Inc’s (商店街) individual sellers use the group’s warehouses across the nation from today in a bid to shorten delivery times to 24 hours to retain the loyalty of consumers and sellers, PChomestore said in a statement yesterday. Previously, individual sellers listed on PChomestore had to ship products to consumers on their own and deliveries could take days, the company said. PChomestore said the latest policy is a demonstration of PChome’s logistics capability across the nation. A total of 5,000 best-selling products on PChomestore would be included in the new policy, PChomestore said.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
TY Biopharm appoints Lin
TY Biopharm Co (台灣東洋藥品) yesterday appointed former premier Lin Chuan (林全) as its chairman, replacing Clark Hsiao (蕭英鈞), who is to take over as company president. The move is in line with Lin’s promise to refrain from accepting any more full-time government jobs when he left the Cabinet in September last year. Lin said that TY Biopharm is one of the nation’s leading biotechnology firms and he hopes to increase its presence in global markets. Market observers are upbeat on Lin’s appointment and his ability to lead TY Biopharm, as he has served on the board of directors of several technology and insurance companies. As a former premier, Lin is the ideal choice for the biotechnology industry, which is included in the government’s “five plus two” industrial innovation program, the observers said.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang profit falls
Auto parts maker Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday said that its pretax profit last month fell 2.29 percent year-on-year to NT$299 million (US$10.12 million) from NT$306 million, primarily due to a foreign-exchange loss of NT$7.61 million. Pretax profit for the whole of last year was NT$3.01 billion, representing a 2 percent year-on-year decline, or pretax earnings per share of NT$4.87. Despite the decrease in earnings, the figure marked the second-highest annual pretax profit in the company’s history. Tong Yong shares yesterday fell 1.6 percent to close at NT$55.3 in Taipei trading.
COSMETICS
Exports hit all-time high
The nation’s exports of cosmetics hit an all-time high last year mainly due to the growing success of new brands launched overseas, especially in China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Cosmetic product exports, including makeup and skin care items, totaled US$730 million last year, up 13.2 percent from US$650 million a year earlier, according to ministry data. The previous high for a single year was US$660 million in 2014. China remained the largest overseas market for the nation’s cosmetics products, accounting for 56.7 percent of total exports, compared with 54.2 percent in 2016, the ministry said.
EQUITIES
TAIEX hits 27-year high
The TAIEX yesterday set a new 27-year high after markets in the US finished last week stronger, dealers said. The bellwether electronics sector steamed ahead, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), while the financial sector also attracted buying to further boost the broader market, they said. The TAIEX closed up 72.35 points, or 0.66 percent, at 10,956.31 on turnover of NT$125.19 billion. Yesterday’s closing level was the highest since April 3, 1990, when the TAIEX closed at 11,119.00.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last