Taiwan invests more in China
Taiwanese companies' investment in China rose 17 percent in the first 10 months of this year as the nation's manufacturers built more plants across the Taiwan Strait to take advantage of cheaper labor and tap rising demand. Taiwanese companies' approved investment in China rose to US$3.56 billion from US$3.03 billion a year earlier, the Investment Commission said on its Web site. Foreign investment in Taiwan, by contrast, dropped 8.5 percent to US$2.46 billion. Last month alone, Taiwanese companies' investment fell 13 percent to US$304 million after climbing 65 percent in September. Foreign investment in Taiwan dropped 34 percent to US$270 million last month, the report said.
Kaohsiung fifth-largest port
Container shipping through Kaohsiung totaled 8.49 million TEUs last year, making it the world's fifth-largest container-shipping harbor. According to the Review of Maritime Transport 2003 released by the UMN Conference on Trade and Development, Hong Kong remained the world's largest container-shipping harbor last year, followed in order by Singapore, Pusan, Shanghai, Kaohsiung and Shenzhen.
HannStar wins flat-panel orders
Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co have placed orders with HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) to buy flat-panel displays used in personal computers and televisions, a Chinese-language newspaper said, without saying where it obtained the information. Dell and Hewlett-Packard plan to buy 4 million flat panels from HannStar, accounting for 40 percent of the Taiwanese maker's production next year, the report said. Taiwanese manufacturers such as HannStar and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) are raising prices amid strong demand, the paper said. Chunghwa Picture Tubes, the third-largest maker of flat-panel displays in the country, plans to raise prices of 15-inch and 17-inch panels by US$5 to US$10 each, the report said.
Formosa to expand production
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), plans to invest NT$4.4 billion (US$129 million) to expand caustic-soda production almost sixfold to become the world's third-biggest manufacturer of a material used to make paper and other products. Asahi Kasei Corp, Japan's second-biggest chemicals maker, and Krupp Uhde GmbH, a unit of Germany's largest steelmaker, will contribute technology to the expansion, Formosa Plastics spokesman Jerry Lin said in a phone interview. Formosa Plastics, Taiwan's biggest maker of polyvinyl chloride used in pipes, will increase soda capacity to 2.3 million metric tonnes from a combined 400,000 tonnes currently at two factories in Taiwan.
ASE seeks funds overseas
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光), the world's second-largest packager of computer chips, may raise about US$441 million selling shares and bonds overseas to fund expansion and pay loans as demand rebounds. Directors approved the sale of as many as 300 million new shares as depositary receipts, worth NT$9.9 billion (US$291 million) at Wednesday's closing price, and as much as US$150 million of bonds convertible into shares, the company said in a statement.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned weak against its US counterpart, losing NT$0.023 to close at NT$34.027 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$645 million.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
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