PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
Chinese investment urged
Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設) chairman Lai Cheng-yi (賴正鎰) yesterday called on the government to ease the regulations on Chinese investment in the local property market, saying Chinese buyers deserve the same treatment as investors from other nations. As of March this year, foreign capital accounted for 311 property deals and 804 land deals, while Chinese investors were involved in only nine, the Taichung-based developer said. Lai blamed the gap on stricter requirements on Chinese investors, who can only apply for 50 percent mortgages, must stay in Taiwan for four months a year and own the property for at least three years before selling.
INVESTMENT
More firms eyeing China
The number of applications for investment in China by Taiwanese companies approved in the first five months of the year jumped 120.62 percent year-on-year to 214, Investment Commission data showed. Investment Commission Executive Secretary Chang Min-pin (張銘斌) said many Taiwanese technology companies are willing to invest in China as the economy has been showing strong growth. However, the commission’s data showed that the value of approved China-bound investment by Taiwanese companies fell 24.4 percent year-on-year in the five-month period to US$2.57 billion. This was mainly due to a relatively high comparison base as the commission gave approval early last year for contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to invest US$1 billion building a 12-inch wafer plant in Nanjing.
TRANSPORTATION
Acer to launch taxi service
Acer Inc (宏碁) and Taiwan Taxi (台灣大車隊) yesterday announced a partnership that could help taxi drivers earn an additional NT$3,000 to NT$6,000 (US$99 to US$197) a month by using the Taiwanese PC vendor’s service that identifies transportation demand hot spots. The service, which uses Acer’s artificial intelligence and big data analysis capabilities, is set to be launched in the second half of this year. Taxi drivers using the service are expected to benefit by one to two additional fares per day.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Inflation spurs greenback
The US dollar yesterday rose against the New Taiwan dollar, gaining NT$0.040 to close at NT$30.401, amid concerns that rising inflation in the US would prompt the US Federal Reserve to keep raising its key interest rates, dealers said. The greenback opened at the day’s high of NT$30.420 and fell to NT$30.353, before rebounding later in the trading session. Turnover totaled US$608 million. Buying by foreign institutional investors on the local equity market helped the NT dollar fend off downward pressure and recoup its earlier losses, they said. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$1.4 billion of shares yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
MONEY LAUNDERING
Amended act to take effect
An amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) is to come into effect on Wednesday next week which stipulates that undeclared foreign currency and negotiable securities exceeding a certain amount carried in or out of the nation would be confiscated. Under the revised act, passengers entering or leaving Taiwan with local currency exceeding NT$100,000, foreign currency exceeding US$10,000, Chinese currency exceeding 20,000 yuan or other negotiable securities should make a declaration with customs officers.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS