Chinese bank issues bonds
The Taipei branch of China-based Bank of Communications Ltd (交通銀行) yesterday issued four tranches of yuan-denominated bonds valued at 2 billion yuan (US$32.52 million), according to local bond market operator GRETAI Securities Market (GTSM).
The Chinese bank’s yuan bonds include a two-year tranche worth 200 million yuan with a coupon rate of 3.3 percent and a five-year tranche valued at 900 million yuan with a 3.75 coupon rate. The other two are a seven-year tranche worth 700 million yuan with a 3.9 percent coupon rate and a 10-year tranche valued at 200 million with a 4 percent coupon rate
Meanwhile, Natixis SA is scheduled to issue a tranche of US dollar-denominated bonds in Taiwan today. The French bank will issue US$295 million in corporate bonds with a maturity of 30 years and a zero coupon rate, the GTSM said, adding that investors are expected to receive a return of 4.67 percent.
MOF tightens hybrid tax cuts
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday tightened tax cut requirements for expensive hybrid electric vehicles on the grounds that they do little to promote green transportation.
Starting immediately, only hybrid electric cars priced under NT$1 million (US$32,110) and with carbon emissions lower than 120kg per kilometer will qualify for the 50 percent cut in sales tax, the ministry said.
In addition, they must meet engine displacement and fuel consumption requirements to qualify for the tax cut.
The tightening came after complaints that large expensive hybrid electric cars produce more carbon emissions than traditional cars.
Microsoft announces alliance
Microsoft Taiwan Corp (台灣微軟) yesterday announced the formation of an alliance with industrial computer supplier Advantech Co (研華科技) to build the first wireless Internet of Things solutions to embed a cloud platform in Asia.
Microsoft Taiwan said in a statement that the platform combines its Microsoft Azure cloud system and Advantech’s remote software management tool SUSIAccess, aiming to expand the business opportunities brought by the Internet of Things era.
The company said that the platform enables Microsoft Azure cloud system to analyze the data gathered from SUSIAccess.
DHL opens 650 service outlets
Deutsche Post DHL, one of the world’s leading mail and logistics services groups, announced yesterday that it has added 650 service locations in Taiwan at state-run Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) branches to fulfill customers’ peak pre-holiday season shipping needs.
DHL’s expansion of service locations will serve to provide greater accessibility and convenience to local customers and small and medium-sized enterprises, in addition to its neighborhood-based services at thousands of 7-Eleven convenience stores accepting documents, for their deliveries during this pre-holiday peak shipping season, the company said in a statement.
Google launches Chromecast
Google Inc yesterday launched its Chromecast device in Taiwan that enables consumers to cast media content such as movies, music and sports from mobile devices or computers to a television screen.
Google has launched its branded Chromecast in 24 markets, including Taiwan. The device is priced at NT$1,390 through stores operated by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Web portal PChome’s (網路家庭) online shopping site.
Chromecast is a thumb-sized media streaming device that plugs into the HDMI port on a television set to cast the user’s mobile entertainment content or apps to the big screen. With Chromecast, a user’s smartphone or tablet can be used as a personalized remote control for the TV, according to Google.
Chunghwa raises 4G target
Chunghwa Telecom on Wednesday raised its annual target for 4G subscribers on optimism about local consumers’ smooth transitions from older 3G networks.
The nation’s largest telecom now expects to sign up more than 1.3 million 4G users by the end of this year, up from its previous target of 1.2 million, president Shih Mu-piao (石木標) told reporters on the sidelines of a 4G summit in Taipei.
The new target represents a market share of more than 40 percent, he said, as the National Communications Commission has estimated that the country’s 4G accounts will grow to 3 million this year, from 2.1 million users as of the end of October.
Best Buy exits China market
US home appliance giant Best Buy Co is leaving the Chinese market, selling its Five Star Appliance (五星電器) subsidiary there to a local group, the company said late yesterday.
Five Star, which Best Buy acquired in 2006, operates 184 stores in China. It will be bought by real-estate developers the Jiayuan Group (佳源集團).
Best Buy did not disclose terms of the transaction, but said the sale should not have a significant impact on its earnings.
The sale will allow Best Buy to concentrate more on its North American activities, the US company said in a statement.
The company has long been dominant in the US market, but is fighting online outlets which have lured away many of its customers.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
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