Chatime (日出茶太), a Taiwanese bubble tea franchise, made a splash in the Philippines last week when it opened its 100th store there in the Abreeza Mall in Davao, the most populous city in the nation outside Metro Manila.
The brand offers a slew of teas, including its signature pearl milk tea, and variety of juices, smoothies and coffee.
The franchise, founded in Taiwan in 2005, now has more than 2,500 outlets in 41 nations worldwide, including the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Henry Wang (王耀輝), chairman of Chatime owner La Kaffa International Co (六角國際), last week said that the Philippines is the third overseas market to have 100 Chatime stores, after Indonesia and Australia.
Southeast Asia is Chatime’s largest market for growth and Asia accounts for 56 percent of its revenues, followed by 16 percent in the Americas, 10 percent in Australia and 4.5 percent in Europe, Wang said.
Christopher Cua (柯昭仰), who helped bring the brand into the Philippines in 2011 and is now marketing and finance director of Chatime Philippines, said he saw the huge potential in the local milk tea market early on.
The signature “Chatime milk tea” is still the best-selling drink, accounting for 40 percent of total sales, Cua said.
Chatime Philippines said local consumers used to prefer coffee, but milk tea has quickly become the most popular.
For an average white-collar worker, lunch costs about 100 pesos (US$1.95), while a cup of milk tea can be had for 90 pesos, which is “not too expensive,” said Jem, a 25-year-old office employee.
Milk tea is so popular that even Starbucks started introducing it, he added.
Cua said he hopes to expand to 150 stores in the Philippines by the end of the year.
The company said it plans to have 200 branches by next year.
With more than 300 Chatime stores in Indonesia, 100 in the Philippines, 50 in Malaysia and 20 in Cambodia, the company aims to expand into other Southeast Asian nations later this year, notably Thailand and Vietnam, Wang said.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective