TELECOMS
HTC confirms lay offs
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) confirmed on Saturday media reports that its division in the US has laid off some employees. Foreign media reports said that HTC America has let go up to 20 percent of its workforce. The company’s US arm originally had about 150 employees. New Taipei City (新北市)-headquartered HTC defended the layoffs as a decisive action to streamline management, but it did not reveal how many employees had been affected. Media reports said that about 30 employees and contract workers had been laid off. HTC said in a statement that the reduction in workforce was a “decisive action ... to streamline and optimize our organization and improve efficiency after several years of aggressive growth.”
FOOD
No hike in cooking oil price
The Taiwan Vegetable Oil Manufacturers Association said on Saturday that their members would not increase the price of cooking oil in the short term and would absorb the rise in costs resulting from higher electric rates, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The ministry’s remarks came after local media reported that cooking oil suppliers were planning to increase prices by between 3 percent and 5 percent next month to reflect the price hikes by state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電). The ministry said that Taipower’s proposed 10.3 percent increase in electricity rates for industrial users would raise the industry’s manufacturing costs by only 0.164 percent. Global prices of soybean, the main raw material used in the manufacture of cooking oil, have also remained stable this year.
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
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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