TECHNOLOGY
Advantech opens in Vietnam
Advantech Co (研華), the nation’s biggest industrial computer maker, yesterday said it has opened a new subsidiary in Vietnam in the latest move to expand its footprint to Southeast Asia. Advantech’s move came as a number of its clients from Japan and South Korea are relocating their manufacturing sites to Vietnam in a bid to take advantage of lower labor costs in the country, the company said in a statement. Vietnam is to replace China as the world’s new workshop, Advantech said. Vietnam has registered high foreign direct investment of US$15 billion a year over the past few years, the company added.
HOSPITALITY
Kanpai to issue 1m shares
Restaurant operator Kanpai Co Ltd (乾杯) yesterday said it plans to raise NT$10 million (US$342,454) in capital through the issuance of 1 million new common shares on the Emerging Stock Market, in a bid to boost its working capital. The company would reserve 10 percent of the new shares’ subscription rights for employees, with the remainder being made available to existing shareholders, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Kanpai has set the price at NT$163 per share, the filing said. The company, which operates six cuisine brands including Kanpai Classic (老乾杯), said it would open 15 new outlets this year to stimulate sales.
TECHNOLOGY
Computex to broaden focus
This year’s Computex Taipei is to focus on more areas, including innovations, start-ups and blockchain technology, as well as gaming and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, 5G telecommunications and the Internet of Things, organizers said yesterday. The trade show, set to take place between June 6 and June 8, is to see the number of exhibitors grow 10 percent from last year to 5,015 booths, including 300 start-ups from 19 countries, organizers said. Taiwan External Trade Development Council executive president Walter Yeh (葉明水) said that the annual event is aiming to transform from a procurement platform into a global event on building technology ecosystems.
HOSPITALITY
Hotel Royal Group to expand
Hospitality provider Hotel Royal Group (老爺酒店集團) is to open a new property in Taichung, raising its total number of outlets to 10 in Taiwan under three brands, the company said on Tuesday. The Place Taichung (台中大毅老爺行旅), a joint venture with Da Yi Construction and Development Co (大毅建設), which aims to woo young independent and business travelers, is to launch in July, the hotel group said. People can buy discount accommodation vouchers for NT$2,900 per room at forthcoming travel fairs in Kaohsiung and Taichung, it said.
HOSPITALITY
Resort to offer discounts
The Promised Land Resort & Lagoon (花蓮理想大地渡假飯店) is seeking to boost sales by taking part in major travel fairs in Taichung and Kaohsiung where it is to offer packages at discounted prices. The five-star resort is urging domestic tourists to take advantage of the NT$500 per person government subsidy and visit Hualien County. The facility emerged unscathed from a major earthquake on Feb. 6. The resort is modeled on the Italian city of Venice and offers 260 Spanish-style guestrooms, all with views of a 2.2km canal, waterfalls, bridges and Greek sculptures. People can purchase room vouchers at the trade shows for NT$3,970 per room, lower than its average daily room rate of NT$4,500.
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
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
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