RETAIL
Eslite opens new HK store
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), a major bookstore chain in Taiwan, has opened a new store in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan area, the company’s fifth outlet in the territory. The outlet in the Western New Territories’ grand opening was on Thursday, with Eslite upgrading a provisional reading venue in the area’s D PARK shopping center to an official store. The reading venue, which was launched in August last year, was well received, so Eslite decided to upgrade it and double its floor space. Eslite chairwoman Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) said the previous venue was part of the company’s expansion strategy to test market demand before opening a store. As the reading venue was frequently visited by many people in Tsuen Wan, it was an easy decision for Eslite to turn it into an official outlet, she said.
EQUITIES
Top 20 brands surge
The aggregate value of Taiwan’s top 20 brands rose about 5 percent this year from last year, defying the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday last week. The 2020 Best Taiwan Global Brands survey said that the increase showed the resilience of the local business sector, in particular technology companies, which benefited from strong demand for emerging technologies such as 5G applications, and the popularity of remote work and online learning, the ministry said. The trend to improve information security amid trade tensions between the US and China also boosted demand for Taiwan’s tech products, the ministry said. The aggregate value of the nation’s 20 largest brands was US$10.07 billion, up 5 percent from last year. It was the first time that the value was above US$10 billion since 2013, the ministry said.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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