Tax revenues last month fell for the first time this year as the national treasury collected NT$193.1 billion (US$5.93 billion), a drop of 14.3 percent from the same period a year earlier, as an economic slowdown weighed on corporate and personal incomes, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Corporate tax income slumped 38.4 percent year-on-year to NT$39.5 billion, while personal tax income dropped 5.6 percent to NT$38.9 billion, as companies and individuals reported less earnings amid a global slowdown, the ministry said.
“The slowdown is affecting tax revenues as evidenced by persistent falls in securities, property and car transactions,” a ministry official said.
New car licenses plunged 27.4 percent to 25,226 units last month, reducing commodity tax revenues on locally made cars by 15.8 percent year-on-year, the ministry’s report said.
However, commodity tax revenues on imported cars increased 13.8 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said, as a weak yen and euro continued to spur demand.
Securities transactions tax revenues lost an extra 4.1 percent last month to NT$6.2 billion from a year ago, reflecting a lack of confidence on the part of investors, the report said.
Revenue from property taxes fell 5.8 percent annually to NT$6.8 billion last month, while the number of deals dropped 2.3 percent, the report said.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people