Leofoo Tourism Group (六福旅遊集團) on Monday announced a partnership with construction company Taiwan Kumagai Co (華熊營造) to turn its Leofoo Hotel (六福客棧) into an upscale serviced office building.
Construction on the complex in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) is expected to start in the second quarter of next year and finish in 2026, Leofoo said in a statement.
The partnership would allow the company to benefit from Taiwan Kumagai’s experience in developing Taipei 101 in the prime Xinyi District (信義) and the Shin Kong Life Tower (新光摩天大樓) across from the Taipei Railway Station, Leofoo vice chairman Lai Zhen-rong (賴振融) said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The new office building would have 6,350 ping (20,992m2) of floor space, with 21 floors above ground and six basement levels, Lai said, adding that the building would embrace the latest technology and obtain environmental sustainability certification.
Office buildings are in great demand in central business districts, whereas urban hotels are taking a hard hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, driving the group to halt operations at the nearly 50-year-old Leofoo Hotel last year.
The group, which also operates the Courtyard by Marriott Taipei (六福萬怡) in the city’s Nangang District (南港) as well as the Leofoo Resort (六福莊) and Leofoo Village Theme Park (六福村) in Hsinchu County, said that the project would cost NT$1.92 billion (US$69.35 million).
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS