GAMING
Soft-World to diversify
Soft-World International Corp (智冠科技), an online game developer, yesterday told shareholders that the company would continue to diversify its business scope, provide comprehensive service support and reach more overseas markets. The company’s non-gaming business segment — such as online advertising and marketing, and financial technology — has contributed more than 30 percent of its total sales, and the demand for related services continues to grow, the company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei. The company reported earnings per share of NT$6.84 for last year, the second-highest in the past 11 years. Shareholders yesterday approved a proposal to distribute a dividend of NT$5.2 per share, or a payout ratio of 76 percent.
SHIPPING
Shih Wei remains bullish
Dry bulk shipper Shih Wei Navigation Co (四維航業) yesterday said it remains optimistic about the prospects of the bulk shipping market this year, despite headwinds ahead. The company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei that it would be prudent in planning its fleet operations in the wake of potential challenges, such as extreme weather, labor constraints and port congestion. The company reported earnings per share of NT$7.16 for last year, the highest since 2008, and decided to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2 per share. Many countries are shifting to coexisting with COVID-19, which would add support to the bulk shipping market, Shih Wei said. However, the global economy is under pressure from geopolitical conflict, economic sanctions and monetary tightening, the company said, adding that it would strive to maximize its financial and operational resources to generate greater returns for shareholders.
ELECTRONICS
HTC shares surge 10%
Smartphone brand HTC Corp (宏達電) on Monday said that chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) was named an independent nonexecutive director at the China-based Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想). HTC shares yesterday surged 10 percent, the daily maximum, to close at NT$46.3 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, as the move sparked market speculation that Lenovo would team up with HTC in the emerging “metaverse” market, dealers said. The “metaverse” is the in-vogue name for immersive Internet technologies accessed through virtual reality and related devices. HTC said that Wang has worked in the information technology industry for more than 40 years and would continue to promote industrial innovation in the areas of virtual reality, augmented reality, 5G, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
TOURISM
Japan tops destinations
Japan is the top destination that Taiwanese tourists want to visit as the COVID-19 pandemic eases, a survey released on Monday by Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社) found. The top five destinations were rounded out by South Korea, Europe, Asia and Africa, and Southeast Asia, the travel agency said in a statement about the online survey that drew about 3,000 respondents. Europe surpassed Southeast Asia on Taiwanese tourists’ destination lists, which Lion Travel attributed to a lifting of pandemic-related border restrictions in European countries. Europe-bound tour packages remain more economical than packages for other destinations, despite a 30 percent increase in prices, making Taiwanese more willing to travel to that part of the world for sightseeing, the travel agency said.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES: New technology always comes with new innovations by the iniquitous in exploiting users for financial gain or more nefarious ends Artificial intelligence (AI) “agents” say they can save users time and energy by automating tasks, but the growing power of systems such as OpenClaw is putting cybersecurity experts on edge. Powered by a wave of hype, OpenClaw today says it has more than three million users worldwide. The system allows users to create so-called agents, tools based on a large language model (LLM) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic PBC’s Claude, that can carry out online tasks. “We’ve moved from an AI you could talk with via a chatbot to an agentic AI, which can take action... the threat and the risks are
RSS