EMPLOYMENT
Unpaid leave increased: CLA
The number of employees on unpaid leave in Taiwan has increased by 14 percent over the past two weeks, according to statistics released by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday. As of Friday, a total of 2,348 workers at 41 companies had agreed to take unpaid leave, with 2,328 already on furlough, data showed. The total number represents a 14 percent increase from Oct. 31, when 2,057 workers at 42 companies had agreed to take unpaid leave, and 2,037 had already started. The latest figure is the nation’s highest since Feb. 28, the CLA data showed.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Semiconductor value to fall
Production value of the nation’s semiconductor sector for the fourth quarter could fall about 5 percent from the third quarter as the industry enters a traditionally slow season, the Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) — the technology division of the Ministry of Economic Affairs — said in a report. ITIS said the fourth-quarter output of the semiconductor sector is expected to total NT$482 billion (US$16.28 billion), down from the NT$507.5 billion of the third quarter. The third quarter’s output rose 5.7 percent from the second quarter on solid demand for mobile communications products, the report said. For the year, output of the local semiconductor industry is expected to hit NT$1.88 trillion, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier, according to ITIS.
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) listed the challenges of ensuring export control compliance by its customers, months after the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) silicon was found to have flowed to US-sanctioned Huawei Technologies Co (華為) via intermediaries. “TSMC’s role in the semiconductor supply chain inherently limits its visibility and information available to it regarding the downstream use or user of final products that incorporate semiconductors manufactured by it,” the Hsinchu-based company said in its latest annual report released on Friday. The world’s largest contract chipmaker said the constraint impedes its ability to prevent unintended end-uses of its semiconductors, as well
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects steady growth this year despite global economic uncertainty due to continued momentum from tech trends such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications. In the company’s annual shareholders’ report released on Thursday, TSMC chairman and CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said the company is well-positioned to meet market demand with its differentiated technology platforms. The company’s 2-nanometer process is on track for volume production in the second half of this year, while its next-generation nanosheet-based A16 process, aimed at HPC applications, is scheduled for mass production late next year, Wei said. Advanced technologies —
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