PHARMACEUTICALS
FamilyMart eyes pharmacies
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s No. 2 convenience store chain, yesterday said that it plans to provide pharmacy services and organic farming products to meet demand. Taiwan FamilyMart chairman and chief executive officer Yeh Jung-ting (葉榮廷) said at a news conference that the company has decided to team up with Great Tree Pharmacy chain (大樹連鎖藥局) and foods supplier Tanhou (天和鮮物) to provide the new services in selective stores. Yeh said demand for the “large-format convenience store” is rising and that Taiwan FamilyMart would keep looking for potential partners to expand this new business.
AUTOMAKERS
Mazda cuts parts prices
Mazda Motor Corp yesterday lowered prices of imported auto parts and components, such as headlights, windshields and bumpers used for the CX-5 and Mazda 6 models, by up to 50 percent for local consumers after taking over its component supply business from its former partner Ford Distribution Taiwan Ltd (品爵汽車). The announcement comes a year after the Japanese automaker set up its local subsidiary, Mazda Motor Taiwan, to sell its cars. The company had cooperated with Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和) in selling Mazda cars for 15 years.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Eversol to aid Green Energy
Solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) yesterday said it had signed an outsourcing agreement with smaller wafer supplier Eversol Corp (旭晶能源) to cope with rising demand for high-end wafer products. Green Energy said the manufacturing agreement for ingot growth and wafer slicing with Eversol is part of its expansion plan, which is to bring its total multi-crystalline wafer capacity to more than 3 gigawatts (GW) from 2GW, making it among the world’s top three multi-crystalline wafer suppliers. The deal is also expected to increase bargaining power for raw materials, Green Energy said in a statement.
BANKING
Asset quality healthy: FSC
Taiwanese banks’ average non-performing loan ratio stayed unchanged at 0.26 percent at the end of May, reflecting healthy asset quality for the 39 domestic lenders, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the coverage ratio — loans covered by banks’ provisions and a gauge indicating the sufficiency of bad loan reserves — rose 3.52 percentage points to 490.55 percent in May, the commission said. Total outstanding loans at domestic banks stood at NT$25.23 trillion (US$811.25 billion) in May, an increase of NT$48.9 billion from April, while bad loans totaled NT$64.9 billion, a decrease of NT$300 million from the previous month’s NT$65.2 billion, the commission said.
MANUFACTURING
FPG to raise wages
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial group, on Tuesday said it had decided to raise wages for its employees by about 4.52 percent following negotiations with its labor union. The hike includes a 3.5 percent raise in monthly salaries and NT$6,000 in allowances for the entire year, which represents a 4.52 percent increase in monthly pay for employees. The union said that although the hike was lower than it had asked for, the amount remained acceptable. The union had demanded a 4 percent raise in wages and a NT$10,000 increase in allowances.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS