INTERNET
Center to foster start-ups
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon.com Inc’s cloud computing arm, to set up a joint innovation center to foster unicorn start-ups. The cloud computing talent cultivation center would be in the Startup Terrace, an innovation park in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). AWS would train about 2,000 professionals a year through courses, workshops and seminars, AWS corporate vice president and managing director for Greater China Alex Yung (容永康) said. Unicorn start-ups such as Airbnb Inc have used the AWS platform, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration said it hopes to cultivate local unicorn start-ups trained by AWS.
INTERNET
Google to double space
Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday unveiled a plan to double its office space in Taiwan. The Internet giant is acquiring a new office complex at Taipei Far Eastern Telecom Park (Tpark) in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of hardware at Google, told a news conference in Taipei. The company, which has 2,000 employees in Taiwan and plans to recruit several hundred more, mainly women, is planning to move its offices to Tpark late next year, he said. Google’s Intelligent Taiwan project, which was unveiled in March last year, has reached its goal of training more than 5,000 people in artificial intelligence (AI) and more than 50,000 digital marketers last year, Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said. This year, the project aims to train more than 10,000 AI personnel and 100,000 digital marketers, Chien said.
HOSPITALITY
Mandarin taps new manager
Mandarin Oriental Taipei (文華東方酒店) has appointed Karan Berry as its new general manager, the hotel said in a statement. Berry aims to transform the facility into an iconic destination for local guests and international travelers, the hotel said. Berry has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and a solid background in hotel operations, the statement said. He would lead the local team to drive revenue, improve profitability, develop talent and enhance experiences for guests, it said. Berry has previously served as general manager at the Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place Jakarta before joining Mandarin Oriental Taipei, the statement said.
RETAIL
FamilyMart profit up 14.7%
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) said that its net income last year rose 14.71 percent annually to NT$1.61 billion (US$52.21 million), as revenue climbed 11.32 percent to NT$71.72 billion. Earnings per share were a record NT$7.23. Same-store sales rose 6.5 percent annually, propelled by rising demand for fresh produce, e-commerce purchases and rising participation in its membership rewards program, the company said.
AUTOMOTIVE
Hotai approves dividends
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which sells Toyota Motor Corp vehicles in Taiwan, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$12 per common share, representing a payout ratio of about 65 percent. The company made NT$9.21 billion in net profit last year, down 8.81 percent from NT$10.1 billion in 2017. That translated into earnings per share of NT$18.34, down from NT$18.51 in 2017. Revenue grew 3.46 percent to NT$187.03 billion from NT$180.77 a year earlier.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
RSS