US-based computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co launched services yesterday to help fill the gap in trade links between Taiwan and China, a sign that mltinationals have decided to take the initiative in building a bridge based on commerce between the two sides.
With polictical differences paralyszing the government's efforts to facilitate trade, corporations are searching for solutions.
H-P said its information technology hardware and services would ensure the smooth transfer of computer files, billing and shipping information and other necessary data between companies in Taiwan and China.
The company cited its business expertise in Taiwan and China as the top reason their services should be used by more Taiwanese firms.
H-P's China operations took in revenues of US$1.2 billion and purchasing orders worth US$3.5 billion for the fiscal year running from November last year through last month. The company's business in China has grown an average of 25 percent per year for the past five years and it expects that to continue for the next several years, according to Sun Chen-Yao (孫振耀), president of H-P China.
The company brought together its Taiwan office -- which was established in 1970 -- with its China office, a 16-year old venture, to come up with a plan for companies that want to do business across the Taiwan Strait. H-P said its services can help companies keep better track of business information.
Indirect trade between the two countries has flourished. Last year, nearly a fifth of the goods exported from Taiwan went to China as trade grew 21 percent year on year to US$31.25 billion, according to the Mainland Affairs Council, which governs all cross-strait exchanges for Taiwan. This makes China an important trading partner for the nation.
It is also the preferred investment destination for Taiwanese companies. Manufacturers from Taiwan are believed to have invested over US$70 billion in China on everything from shoe and textile factories to computer production lines. H-P is not the first company to come up with products or services to improve trade between China and Taiwan. Other companies have also warned that Taiwan may be missing the boat by not fully capitalizing on China's booming economy.
Earlier this year, a Dell Computer Corp executive cited the lack of direct shipping between Taiwan and China as the key reason the firm moved its Asia-Pacific procurement headquarters from Taipei to Hong Kong. Dell purchased US$4.5 billion in computer goods from Taiwan last year and is projected to spend as much as US$6 billion this year.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.