TELECOMS
Chunghwa to fund start-up
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) on Friday last week announced that it plans to participate in the B-round of funding for Taiwanese start-up 4Gamers Entertainment Inc (就肆電競), saying it is positive about the development of the e-sports industry and digital economy in the nation. Other investors leading the round of funding include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund (台灣創業者基金) and CDIB Capital Group (中華開發資本). The Taipei-based 4Gamers is the nation’s largest e-sports integrated marketing company. Chunghwa Telecom said it would team up with 4Gamers to organize e-sports competitions in Southeast Asia.
TRADE
TAITRA to host Indian group
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) and the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) on Friday last week agreed to hold talks on business cooperation in Taipei in October. The meeting would allow Taiwanese and Indian businesses to explore opportunities to work together, TAITRA said. ITPO is to attend upcoming TAITRA events, including Taitronics in October and Computex and Food Taipei next year, and help TAITRA with the Smart Asia show in October in Bengaluru.
BANKING
Exposure to China falls
Outstanding loans extended to and investments made in China by Taiwanese banks in the first quarter of this year totaled NT$1.72 trillion (US$57.5 billion), compared with NT$1.73 trillion in the previous quarter, reducing the banks’ average exposure to China relative to combined net worth from 0.54 to 0.53, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Monday last week.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Micron Technology Inc is a driving force pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would put new export restrictions on equipment its Chinese competitors use to make their chips, according to people familiar with the matter. A US House of Representatives panel yesterday was to vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close gaps in restrictions on chipmaking equipment. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking facilities to align with export curbs on US companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc. The bill targets facilities operated by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc
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