INVESTMENT
Funds down on last year
The government has attracted NT$198.23 billion (US$6.54 billion) in investments from Taiwanese operating overseas as of the end of last month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday. The ministry has set a goal of attracting NT$200 billion in funds from overseas Taiwanese enterprises back home. However, in the first quarter of this year, the ministry received three applications from overseas Taiwanese firms, and the investment amounts would only reach NT$7.4 billion, down almost 90 percent from the investments during the same quarter last year. The ministry said overseas Taiwanese firms have faced difficulties in finding pieces of land appropriate for their plants.
OVERSIGHT
FSC to issue new index
The Financial Supervisory Commission is to release a new index new year to evaluate corporate governance at different companies, Commision Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) said on Saturday. The index, to be announced one year ahead of schedule, is aimed at rewarding companies with good governance, Tseng said during a forum.
ECONOMY
GDP forecast kept at 3.9%
Standard Chartered Bank has maintained its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth at 3.9 percent this year amid an improving global economy. The current growth recovery gained further momentum in the first quarter, Tony Phoo (符銘財), a Taipei-based economist at the bank, said on Monday, citing improving export growth, a rise in overseas orders and industrial production gains. Domestic consumption has shown increasing signs of a pick-up and consumer confidence is also improving, Phoo said.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
Nvidia Corp’s negotiations to invest as much as US$100 billion in OpenAI have broken down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, exposing a potential rift between two of the most powerful companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The discussions stalled after some inside Nvidia expressed concerns about the transaction, the WSJ reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the deliberations. OpenAI makes the popular chatbot ChatGPT, while Nvidia dominates the market for AI processors that help develop such software. The companies announced the agreement in September last year, saying at the time that they had signed a letter of intent for a strategic
RSS