SUGAR
Taisugar reappoints Chen
Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖) yesterday appointed former chairman Chen Chao-yih (陳昭義) to the position after Charles Huang (黃育徵) resigned last week. Chen helped bring the company out of the red during his nearly four years at the helm from 2013 to 2016, Taisugar said in a statement. At a handover ceremony, Chen said that he would work to utilize the company’s idle land in Taiwan, as the asset is in high demand due to a growing number of Taiwanese companies returning from China and the development of solar energy accelerates. The company would make an effort to recruit and cultivate talent in the future, he said.
E-COMMERCE
PChome, HTNS sign MOU
PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), the nation’s largest e-commerce operator, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korean logistics company Hanoro TNS (HTNS) to join forces to expand marketing horizons. Through the agreement, popular South Korean products would be made available on PChome’s online platform, PChome chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) said in a statement. PChome also aims to promote Taiwanese products in South Korea through HTNS, Jan said. The move came after PChome partnered with Rakuten Inc and eBay Inc earlier this year.
AVIATION
EVA sixth-best in world: poll
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) has been ranked the world’s sixth-best airline in a survey released at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday by Skytrax, the UK’s leading aviation service research agency. EVA also took home the honor of having the world’s cleanest airline and was cited for having the best economy-class catering. Qatar Airways Co QCSC returned to the top spot in the Skytrax World Airline Awards, the fifth time the Persian Gulf carrier has won the award, adding to its 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017 titles. Last year, Singapore Airlines Ltd claimed first place.
BANKING
Average lending rates rise
The nation’s five major state-run banks last month saw their average lending interest rates rise to 1.473 percent, up 0.028 percentage points from 1.445 percent a month earlier. The five lenders are Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行). The rate increase indicates increasing loan demand by firms to increase their working capital and capital expenditure, the central bank said in a statement. Excluding government loans, interest rates averaged 1.473 percent, down 0.006 percentage points from 1.5479 percent in April, the central bank said.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Yuan deposits drop 2.34%
Yuan deposits in Taiwan last month totaled 268.278 billion yuan (US$38.857 billion), a 2.34 percent decrease from April and the lowest level in more than five years, the central bank said. The decline resulted from some firms’ withdrawal of their yuan deposits to purchase yuan-denominated bonds, the bank said. There were also firms that remitted the Chinese currency to meet operational needs in China, it added. Jih Sun International Commercial Bank (日盛銀行) offers the highest interest rates of 2.3 percent for one-month yuan time deposits; 2.9 percent for three-month and six-month time deposits; and 3.1 percent for one-year time deposits, central bank data showed.
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS