MACROECONOMICS
Domestic trade grows
Domestic trade — including the retail, wholesale and restaurant sectors — continued to grow last month, with the restaurant sector registering the biggest annual increase of 7.7 percent, followed by the retail sector at 2.8 percent and the wholesale sector at 2.2 percent, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed. Overall, domestic trade totaled NT$1.29 trillion (US$41.6 billion) last month, the highest for the month since the ministry started keeping records in 1953, it said on Tuesday last week. In the first nine months of this year, total domestic trade reached NT$11.21 trillion.
BANKING
Building loans increase
The nation’s construction loans, which are indicative of the construction sector’s attitude toward the market, grew for an eighth straight month to a record NT$1.8 trillion last month, up 1.12 percent month-on-month and 6.31 percent year-on-year, the central bank said on Thursday last week. Housing loans also rose for a 19th straight month to a record NT$6.87 trillion, up 0.89 percent from the previous month and 4.79 percent from a year earlier, the bank said.
WAGES
Survey finds outlook bleak
Most Taiwanese felt pessimistic about their wage outlook for the next six months on concerns about the volatility of global markets and the escalating US-China trade war, a Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) survey showed on Monday. Only 24.9 percent of respondents said they expected employers to raise their salaries in the next six months, the online survey conducted from Oct. 1 to 7 found. Most respondents said that they expected salary increases of less than 5 percent, with only 2.1 percent anticipating a rise of more than 5 percent.
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
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