■ Survey targets job creation
Fifty-four percent of respondents to a recent survey are aware of a government job creation project, according to results released yesterday by the Research, Develop-ment and Evaluation Commission. Out of those 616 respondents who said they knew about the project, 61 percent said they thought the year-old project is helping employment among the underprivileged, compared with 28 percent who said it is not helpful. Fifty-nine percent also said the project is helping to solve unemployment among the middle-aged and elderly, compared with 33 percent who said it is not helpful. Sixty percent of respondents said that the project should continue, while 19 percent said it should be stopped; however, while 44 percent said they are satisfied with the government's implementation of the project, 34 percent said they are not satisfied. The government launched the project last year, appropriating NT$20 billion (US$595.23 million) to provide temporary jobs for one year. An estimated 90,000 people have benefited from the project.
■ Acer extends buyback plan
Acer Inc will continue to buy back its own shares in the next two to three years to increase the value of its stock, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, quoting company president Wang Jen-tang (王振堂). The share buyback aims to cut the company's paid-in capital to NT$16 billion (US$475 million) from the current NT20.5 billion, the newspaper quoted Wang as saying. Acer, the country's third-largest computer company by market value, last month said it planned to spend as much as NT$600 million to buy back and cancel 10 million shares at between NT$29.10 and NT$60 a share starting May 17. This followed a similar buyback plan that started May 12.
■ AU gets major loan package
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's No.3 flat screen maker, yesterday received NT$60 billion in syndicated loans from 13 local lenders led by the Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行). The funds will be used to build next-generation plants in Taichung. AU's bank loan is the latest fund-raising project by local thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel makers since Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd's (中華映管) NT$38 billion syndicated loan was granted in mid-May. Taiwanese LCD makers are expected to spend US$11.3 billion on new equipment, according to market researcher DisplaySearch's tally in April.
■ Lin defends listing policy
Mainland-based Taiwan companies will not yet be listed on the local stock market, but this will not affect the government's resolve to make Taiwan a world financial hub, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) said yesterday. Taiwan-funded companies in China can list on the domestic stock market as long as they meet government requirements, but the thorny issue is how to properly oversee the offshore investments that are made with funds collected from Taiwan.
■ NT dollar down again
The New Taiwan dollar had its third losing week as foreign fund managers sold Taiwanese equities that helped drag the currency down, dealers said. The NT dollar slid NT$0.074, or 0.5 percent, to close at NT$33.785 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday. Turnover was US$592 million. Money managers abroad dumped a net US$392 million of Taiwan's equities in the 10 sessions through Wednesday, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange statistics.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
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