■ Electricity rates to rise
Minister of Economic Affairs Morgan Hwang (黃營杉) said yesterday that state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is scheduled to hike electricity rates July 1, but the increase will not exceed 8 percent. Hwang made the remarks while fielding questions at a meeting of the legislature's Economics and Energy Committee. He said Taipower has already sent its power rate adjustment plan to the ministry, which will soon convene a special commission to assess the proposal and decide on the hike range and the date of implementation. If rates are hiked to what Hwang said would be a maximum of 8 percent, household users would see an increase to NT$2.7 from the current NT$2.5 per kilowatt hour on average, while industrial users would see an increase to NT$1.836 to NT$1.944 from the current NT$1.7 to NT$1.8 per kilowatt hour on average. As summer electricity rate is set to begin next month with an increase of between 13 percent and 27 percent, users are bound to feel the pinch of power rate adjustment.
■ US trade official to visit
Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia will visit Taipei from May 24 to 27, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said on Tuesday. This will be Bhatia's first trip to Taiwan in his current post, making him the most senior US official to visit the country in six years. He will be accompanied by Assistant US Trade Representative for China Tim Stratford. Bhatia will take part in two days of meetings under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which was established in 1994 to resolve bilateral trade issues and enhance economic cooperation, the USTR said. Among the issues on the agenda will be agriculture, enforcement of intellectual property rights, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications policy, the office said.
■ ITRI opens patent bidding
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) will release 111 patents to private companies, with the bidding deadline set for June 12, an institute official said yesterday. The official said the ITRI has separated the patents into four categories and 10 patent compounds, and added that companies can bid for single patent or a set of patents. He said the patents cover several key information-technology areas -- computer graphics, multiprocessors, optical character recognition, and virtual reality.
■ Lehman Brothers to advise trust
Lehman Brothers will be the first foreign bank to advise a local real estate investment trust (REIT), according to a source close to the matter yesterday. The US investment bank will act as the financial advisor for a NT$3.8 billion (US$120 million) real estate investment trust which is to be launched by Continental Engineering Corp (大陸工程) and two other local companies, said an official with President Securities Co (統一證券), the underwriter for the sale. The REIT, set to launch next month, would generate a 4 percent yield, about the same as those provided by the REITs that have been issued by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) and Shin Kong Financial Holding (新光金控), said the official, who declined to be identified. "It's not only Lehman's first case in Taiwan, but also the first Taiwan REIT advised by a foreign bank," the official said. "Lehman is not the only one interested in the Taiwan market. Major rivals like Deutsche Bank are also trying to get into the market," he said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
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