TRADE
Christensen criticizes China
China is aggressively using market-distorting subsidies and other practices such as intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers that harm the global economy, including the economies of the US and Taiwan, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen said yesterday. “We must defend the international rule-based order and sometimes take steps to dissuade those who flout global rules,” he said in a speech at the annual congress of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Taipei. The US is committed to open markets and free trade in the Indo-Pacific region and globally, common values that the nation shares with Taiwan, he said. The free and open Indo-Pacific strategy, introduced by the administration of US President Donald Trump in November last year, encompasses an area stretching from the US west coast to Japan, through Southeast Asia to Australia, and west to India, he said. “We are looking to work more closely with Taiwan on the Indo-Pacific strategy’s priority initiatives of energy, infrastructure and the digital economy,” he said. In the years ahead, as business relationships evolve in the Indo-Pacific region, the role and importance of Taiwanese businesses would continue to grow and expand around the world, he added. Christensen announced that the AIT would escort a delegation of Taiwanese companies to the Indo-Pacific Discover Global Markets event on aerospace, defense and advanced manufacturing to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Dec. 10 to Dec. 12. The congress was also attended by former US vice president Dick Cheney and Stephen Yates, a former deputy national security adviser to Cheney.
TELECOMS
MOD subscribers at 1.9m
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, yesterday said that subscribers to its multimedia-on-demand (MOD) Internet TV business climbed to more than 1.9 million this month. That means the company is well on track to hit its target of 2 million subscribers by the end of this year. The company attributed the growth to its broadcasts of the FIFA World Cup and Asian Games. Chunghwa Telecom is set to broadcast more sports events next month, including the Chinese Taipei Open organized by the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association.
ENERGY
Research center founded
Denmark’s Orsted A/S yesterday donated a 1 megawatt energy storage system to National Changhua University of Education to further the school’s green energy curriculum. The system features energy storage equipment built by Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) and is to be installed by the Taiwanese company. Orsted also founded a research center at the university to help students develop the next generation of energy storage solutions.
PROPERTY
TLDC inks Hualien deal
Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) yesterday inked a cooperation pact with Vieshow Cinemas and VR Live for a mixed-use commercial building, the second phase of a larger development project in Hualien County. TLDC chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) signed the agreement at the site near Hualien Bay (洄瀾灣), where TLDC is to open a building that is to house VR facilities, movie theaters, restaurants and other sports activities, the Taipei-based developer said in a statement. The building has five stories above ground and one basement, and is equipped with the latest technologies in a bid to entice visitors to the area.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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