Rising energy costs may soon force industries to raise prices, industrialists said yesterday.
Consumers may first pay more on transportation fares, as oil prices have been surging since late last year.
"We are considering raising ticket fares as fuel costs keep increasing," Lu Chieh-shen (
The TRA has been reporting losses from declining traffic over the past few years because of the economic downturn and competition from other means of transportation, including long-haul buses and the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit system, said Liu Chih-cheng (
Although the TRA can propose price adjustments every two years, the last set of proposals were turned down by the legislature for political considerations, Liu said. As a result, fares for train tickets, especially short-distance ones, are lower than for alternative modes of transport.
For example, the train fare from Panchiao in Taipei County to Sungshan in Taipei City is NT$18, while the bus fare for the same distance is NT$30 or more.
Long-distance bus operator Kuo-kuang Motor Transport Co (國光客運) said it was considering fare hikes to its administrator, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau (國道高速公路局), as the company has been suffering losses of NT$7 million to NT$8 million per month because of the rocketing oil prices, said Feng Pao-lo (馮保羅), manager of Kuo-kuang Motor.
Smaller private long-haul bus operator Aloha Bus Co (
Taxi drivers also bear the brunt of the fuel costs and suggested a fare rise early this year. The proposal was withdrawn as taxi drivers feared that customers would turn to mass transportation, said Chen Teng (
Electricity may be the next to rise, as the price of coal has risen from US$27 per tonne last year to US$52 per tonne this year.
"We may propose asking the government to raise electricity rates starting next year," Lee Chuan-lai (李傳來), a public relations official at the state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), said yesterday.
Last year, Taipower bought 89 percent of the coal it needs for this year, and therefore there was no urgency for the company to raise electricity rates at the moment, Lee said. However, the increased price of coal, along with freight costs that have more than doubled, would cost Taipower NT$20 billion this year, while Taipower is required to give NT$15.5 billion to the government this year, Lee said.
Furthermore, consumers will be billed more for water, as Taiwan Water Supply Corp (
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.