Sing Lan Co Ltd (新嵐企業), which operates tea beverage chain 50 Lan (50嵐), is to set up a global headquarters in Kaohsiung, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday after it approved the company’s application to invest in the nation via a government incentive program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
With 174 stores nationwide, Sing Lan is targeting the US, Canada, Australia and Malaysia as it seeks to expand overseas. It plans to invest NT$300 million (US$9.99 million) expanding its logistics center and warehouses, as well as setting up the new headquarters in the Kaoshiung Hofa Industrial Park (高雄和發工業區), the ministry said.
The ministry also gave a green light to eight other SME investment applications, including Fox Automation Technology Inc (承鼎精密) and Gold Chains Sheet Metal Tech Co Ltd (高群鈑金), as well as hand tool suppliers Chu Min Co Ltd (茱銘) and Honiton Industries Inc (利徠實業).
Fox Automation, a subsidiary of Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc (京鼎), is to invest NT$1.8 billion setting up a smart manufacturing facility in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南), as the company aims to expand its production capacity and strengthen cooperation with Applied Materials Inc, the ministry said.
Gold Chains is to invest NT$500 million setting up a smart manufacturing facility for slot and gachapon machines, while Chu Min and Honiton are to invest about NT$200 million each establishing new plants in Taichung’s Taiping District (太平) to handle mounting orders, it said.
Seamless steel pipe manufacturer Meng Chang Precision Machine Industry (猛展鋼鐵), which supplies automakers Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp, is to invest NT$200 million to establish a new automated plant in the Yunlin Fengtian Industrial Park (雲林豐田工業區), while Fupite Plastics Mold Co Ltd (富比特塑膠模具), which counts auto parts maker Tong Yang Industry Co Ltd (東陽實業) and furniture maker IKEA among its clients, is to invest NT$200 million to set up a research-and-development center, it added.
The ministry has approved 121 SME investment applications since the program began in July last year, which would result in an estimated NT$53.2 billion in domestic investments.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September