Japan’s largest clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co is scheduled to launch its casual wear brand Uniqlo in Taiwan this fall.
Local fans looking for Uniqlo bargains — or those of Sweden’s Zara and H&M or the US’ Gap — have long had to venture outside of Taiwan to find such items.
The first Uniqlo outlet in Taipei could be located at Tonlin Plaza (統領廣場) in eastern Taipei, the Chinese-language newspaper United Daily News reported yesterday.
The space was previously occupied by Marks & Spencer — the British retailer which retreated from Taiwan in 2008 after 18 months of sluggish sales performance.
The Uniqlo space at Tonlin would occupy at least 500 pings (1,650m²), the report said.
Fast Retailing said on Thursday it would invest ¥430 million (US$4.7 million) to establish a Taiwanese subsidiary next month to develop a network of Uniqlo stores here, including one in Taipei that will be open by this fall, Kyodo News reported.
Fast Retailing has more than 800 stores across the globe, with Uniqlo outlets in China, Hong Kong, the US, France and elsewhere. It is planning to expand into India, Australia and Thailand.
Fast Retailing began recruiting personnel from local universities last year. Employees in managerial positions are receiving salaries starting at NT$60,000 (US$1,818), and they are currently undergoing training at the Tokyo headquarters, the United Daily said.
H&M will reportedly launch in Taiwan sometime this year as well.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS