INTERNET
Center to foster start-ups
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon.com Inc’s cloud computing arm, to set up a joint innovation center to foster unicorn start-ups. The cloud computing talent cultivation center would be in the Startup Terrace, an innovation park in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). AWS would train about 2,000 professionals a year through courses, workshops and seminars, AWS corporate vice president and managing director for Greater China Alex Yung (容永康) said. Unicorn start-ups such as Airbnb Inc have used the AWS platform, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration said it hopes to cultivate local unicorn start-ups trained by AWS.
INTERNET
Google to double space
Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday unveiled a plan to double its office space in Taiwan. The Internet giant is acquiring a new office complex at Taipei Far Eastern Telecom Park (Tpark) in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of hardware at Google, told a news conference in Taipei. The company, which has 2,000 employees in Taiwan and plans to recruit several hundred more, mainly women, is planning to move its offices to Tpark late next year, he said. Google’s Intelligent Taiwan project, which was unveiled in March last year, has reached its goal of training more than 5,000 people in artificial intelligence (AI) and more than 50,000 digital marketers last year, Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said. This year, the project aims to train more than 10,000 AI personnel and 100,000 digital marketers, Chien said.
HOSPITALITY
Mandarin taps new manager
Mandarin Oriental Taipei (文華東方酒店) has appointed Karan Berry as its new general manager, the hotel said in a statement. Berry aims to transform the facility into an iconic destination for local guests and international travelers, the hotel said. Berry has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and a solid background in hotel operations, the statement said. He would lead the local team to drive revenue, improve profitability, develop talent and enhance experiences for guests, it said. Berry has previously served as general manager at the Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place Jakarta before joining Mandarin Oriental Taipei, the statement said.
RETAIL
FamilyMart profit up 14.7%
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) said that its net income last year rose 14.71 percent annually to NT$1.61 billion (US$52.21 million), as revenue climbed 11.32 percent to NT$71.72 billion. Earnings per share were a record NT$7.23. Same-store sales rose 6.5 percent annually, propelled by rising demand for fresh produce, e-commerce purchases and rising participation in its membership rewards program, the company said.
AUTOMOTIVE
Hotai approves dividends
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which sells Toyota Motor Corp vehicles in Taiwan, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$12 per common share, representing a payout ratio of about 65 percent. The company made NT$9.21 billion in net profit last year, down 8.81 percent from NT$10.1 billion in 2017. That translated into earnings per share of NT$18.34, down from NT$18.51 in 2017. Revenue grew 3.46 percent to NT$187.03 billion from NT$180.77 a year earlier.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day