President Starbucks Coffee Corp (統一星巴克), the firm in charge of the Taiwan operations of Seattle-based Starbucks, will speed up its franchise development across the Taiwan Strait, as China is slated to open up its retail market next month in accordance with WTO regulations.
"We're optimistic about the business prospects there, because the opening up of its market can stimulate consumption," said John Hsu (徐光宇), president of the coffee operator, at a press conference yesterday to launch its Christmas products.
"We'll be more aggressive in launching outlets in China," he said, refusing to elaborate.
In a 50-50 joint venture with Starbucks, President Starbucks has set up 51 coffee shops in seven major cities in China's eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu since May 2000.
In addition to the Taiwanese company, the US coffee giant has inked deals with two other partners to operate its business in northern China -- ?including Beijing and Tianjin -- and in the south -- such as in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Hsu said the next step is to move toward China's second-tier cities and open outlets at a faster pace.
In stark contrast to President Starbucks' smooth expansion across the Taiwan Strait, its sibling President Chain Store Corp (
Meanwhile, smaller rival Taiwan FamilyMart Co (
Faced with the fast expansion of his company's rivals, Kao Ching-yuan (高清愿), head of Uni-President Group (統一集團), parent of President Chain Store, said Monday that he has instructed employees to come up with other strategies, rather than "naively waiting for authorization from the US," according to Chinese-language daily the Liberty Times.
Kao said if India's Modi Group can obtain the rights to run 7-Eleven stores in India, President Chain Store would not rule out the possibility of forming a strategic alliance with Modi to expand its territory to Southeast Asia.
Jason Lin (
Despite expansion setbacks in China, Kao expects the group to achieve revenues of NT$260 billion (US$8 billion) next year, up 4 percent from this year's estimated NT$250 billion.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS