Nearly 75 percent of Taiwan’s office workers would like to switch careers and work in the medical and related sectors, seeing the healthcare industry as insulated from the ups and downs of the economy, a survey said yesterday.
The survey conducted by the online employment service 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) found that 74.96 percent of office workers responding to the poll expressed interest in switching to the medical field if given the opportunity.
Asked why, 45 percent of respondents cited as the top reason a belief that medical-related businesses were least affected by economic downturns. A large number of respondents — 44 percent — also said they would choose the field because the medical business had bright prospects, with 26 percent of those surveyed said they possess medical skills or knowledge.
Some 37 percent of respondents said they would work in hospitals and general medical institutions, while 32 percent said they would prefer pharmaceutical companies or companies that manufacture medical products.
The online survey’s release coincided with the arrival of a 30-member medical tourist group from China on Sunday.
While many expect the new “Medicine in Taiwan” tourism to generate an annual NT$3 billion (US$91.2 million) in revenue five years from now, such a business niche could also lead to cut-throat pricing competition among businesses in the tourism, medical and insurance sectors, said Hung Zi-jen (洪子仁), vice president of the Shin Kong Medical Club (新光健康管理公司).
The survey was conducted between June 5 and last Thursday among office workers, with 1,202 valid samples collected. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS