ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai toils to reopen plant
Apple Inc supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is likely to reopen its shuttered south Indian iPhone factory on Friday at the earliest, a senior government official familiar with the matter said. The plant, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was closed on Dec. 18, following protests when 250 of its workers were treated for food poisoning. Apple has since placed the factory on probation after discovering that some dormitories and dining rooms did not meet standards. Hon Hai told the Tamil Nadu State Government that it was still working to address Apple’s concerns over workers’ living conditions, the official said.
ENERGY
Taipower to hire 857 workers
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to recruit 857 new employees this year to begin filling 3,000 jobs to open up over the next three years. About one-third of the new job openings are for outdoor tower technicians, the state-run utility said in a statement. Taipower said that it would pay a starting monthly salary of NT$31,487 (US$1,139) to qualified applicants after a year of training. Applications are to be accepted from Tuesday next week until Jan. 24, Taipower said, adding that written examinations would be held in May.
WATER
Major reservoirs 70% full
Water levels at the nation’s major reservoirs are about 70 percent to nearly full, the Water Resources Agency said in a statement yesterday, as Taiwan enters its dry season. Last year, the nation had a severe drought, but water conditions are normal at present, the agency said, adding that there is adequate water for household and industrial use. Irrigation for the first harvest would start as scheduled, it added. The agency said that it would continue monitoring water conditions to ensure a stable supply of water for household, industrial and agricultural users. The agency added that it would cooperate with agricultural authorities to prioritize the use of surface water and pond water, as well as increase the efficient use of water in irrigation.
MANUFACTURING
Yeong Guan signs bank loan
Yeong Guan Energy Technology Group Co (YGG, 永冠能源), one of the nation’s leading advanced casting components suppliers, yesterday said that it has signed a syndicated loan agreement with state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) and five other banks to boost its working capital and repay debt. The five-year syndicated loan, composed of US$130 million and NT$2.145 billion, is also intended to help finance the purchase of equipment for a new plant in Taichung, which is to start mass production in the third quarter, it said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY
Auto market boosts CFTC
China Fineblanking Technology Co (CFTC, 和勤精機), a manufacturer of metal stamping products, yesterday reported that revenue last month increased from November due to a steady recovery in the Chinese auto market. Consolidated revenue rose 4.94 percent to NT$249 million last month, the company said in a statement, adding that on an annual basis, revenue fell 2.37 percent, while total revenue for last year expanded 14.54 percent to NT$2.64 billion, from NT$2.31 billion in 2020. The company makes auto parts, which last month accounted for 69.65 percent of total revenue, and voice coil motor plates for hard-disk drive applications, which contributed 27.13 percent.
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by
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