EQUITIES
Lotus IPO under review
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) is expected to complete its review of Lotus Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s (美時化學製藥) application to trade its shares by the middle of next month, TWSE president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei yesterday. If approved, it would mark a relaxing of exchange regulations, as Lotus would be the first company to debut on the bourse even though it reported accumulated losses of about NT$1 billion (US$31.88 million) as of the end of last year. Current regulations do not allow loss-making companies to be listed. Three other companies have expressed interest in applying for an initial public offering (IPO) under the relaxed rules, Chien said.
TRADE
New bilateral tariffs begin
Preferential tariffs between Taiwan and Paraguay take effect today, after the government agreed to remove or reduce tariffs on 31 categories of Paraguayan products, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said yesterday. In return, Paraguay agreed to reduce tariffs on 14 categories of Taiwanese products, as a follow-up to an economic agreement that took effect in February last year, the bureau said. In the first six months of this year, bilateral trade reached US$47.68 million, up 88 percent year-on-year, with Taiwan enjoying a trade surplus of US$2.7 million, the bureau said.
MANUFACTURING
Renovations set for EPZ
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday unveiled a plan to renovate the Taichung export processing zone (EPZ), which was established 50 years ago to focus on the optoelectronic industry. The work would be completed in sections to meet the needs of the companies in the zone, the ministry said. Work on employee dormitories would start by the end of this month, it said. The zone is home to 42 companies and 9,574 employees, the ministry said, adding that the EPZ is fully utilized, but 60 percent of its buildings are more than 40 years old.
LABOR
Increase in jobs expected
The number of positions available in the nation’s job market next quarter is expected to increase by 36,400 from this quarter, the Ministry of Labor said on Tuesday. The increase is being attributed to growing demand for personnel to fill vacancies left by employees resigning or retiring, Department of Statistics head Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲) said. The greater demand is also being driven by the fourth quarter being the peak season for tech products and Taiwanese companies returning home, Lo added.
AVIATION
Cathay chairman to retire
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) yesterday announced that chairman John Slosar is retiring, the latest top executive to leave the carrier since it drew Beijing’s ire over employees participating in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Slosar, 63, is stepping down and would be replaced by Patrick Healy, a veteran executive from the Swire Group, the airline’s majority shareholder, Cathay said in a statement. In a filing to the territory’s stock exchange, Cathay said Slosar, who has been chairman since 2014, “confirmed that his resignation is due to his retirement and that he is not aware of any disagreement with the board of the company.” The handover would take effect on Nov. 6 at the conclusion of the company’s board meeting, Cathay said.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”