Taipei has the lowest office fit-out costs in the Asia-Pacific region, averaging US$70 per square foot (0.09m2), a survey released yesterday by international property broker Cushman & Wakefield showed.
“With average costs of US$70 per square foot, Taipei is the most economical city for office fit-out in [the] Asia-Pacific,” Cushman & Wakefield said, citing its latest office fit-out cost guide, which aims to assist corporate occupiers in drawing up capital planning and relocation budgets.
Office fit-out costs average about US$110 per square foot in the region, although the range is wide, from as little as US$45 per square foot in Taipei to as much as US$275 per square foot in Tokyo, it said.
Construction costs continue to rise, especially in Japan, where preparation for next year’s Tokyo Olympics has exerted greater pressure on available resources, Cushman & Wakefield said, explaining why Tokyo has the highest office fit-out costs, averaging US$202 per square foot.
Robust economic growth across the region this year has driven corporate expansion, which has led to healthy demand for office space, it said.
With limited space available in many cities, competition for space has intensified, fueling rental growth, it added.
Moving forward, corporate occupiers will scrutinize costs closely, with the cost of office fit-outs being a high-priority concern for relocation projects, it said.
A workplace environment that is functional, tech-enabled and flexible, with a variety of work settings and amenities, are the benchmark considerations today.
“The tech-savvy generation expects a high level of technology adoption in the workplace, which enables them to access information easily and quickly in a comfortable environment,” Cushman & Wakefield said.
Large augmented virtuality set-ups, real-time data on display with the latest tech amenities at fast speeds mean higher costs related to high performance and cooling facilities to maintain comfort levels, it said.
Sustainability factors, such as the type of materials used in the fit-out, would also directly affect costs, it said.
“In Taipei, turnkey solution is the most popular approach clients are looking at,” said Gary Chan (詹畢仁), head of project and development services in Taiwan.
Clients prefer to partner with professional project managers with design and build experience to support their upcoming projects, Chan said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by