Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), a major manufacturer primarily of gasoline-powered scooters under the KYMCO brand, has pledged to invest NT$4.4 billion (US$142.4 million) in the research and manufacture of electric scooters and battery packs as well as the establishment of electrified infrastructure for sales of electric scooters in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.
The InvesTaiwan Service Center on Friday approved the Kaohsiung-based company’s application to participate in the government’s incentive program, the ministry said.
The announcement comes as Kwang Yang is building a business model for the construction of an ecosystem for electric scooters, battery packs and battery-swapping stations around the nation, it said.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
Eventually, the company hopes to provide comprehensive electric scooter solutions for individuals, enterprises and government agencies, it added.
Kwang Yang has achieved its goal of setting up 2,600 battery-swapping stations this year, which cover more than 80 percent of Taiwan’s administrative regions and make the company the largest provider of battery-swapping stations in the nation, the ministry said.
In addition, the company plans to carry out research on the reuse of old batteries and their recycling as part of its efforts to achieve its social responsibility and sustainability goals, it said.
InvesTaiwan also on Friday approved plans by three other companies, including machine tool maker Parkson Wu Industrial Co (寶嘉誠工業) and sheet metal processing provider Taiwa Precise Technique Co (台華精技), to establish or expand their manufacturing facilities in the nation, the ministry said.
The “Invest in Taiwan” initiative has to date attracted 1,377 companies to invest more than NT$2.08 trillion in Taiwan, with 10 applications pending review, it said.
The investment figure is expected to reach NT$2.2 trillion by the end of the year, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Saturday while attending an investment conference focusing on the private sector’s participation in public construction projects.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
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
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by faster-than-expected demand for leading-edge chips for AI applications. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in July projected that revenue this year would expand about 30 percent in US dollar terms. The company also slightly hiked its capital expenditure for this year to US$40 billion to US$42 billion, compared with US$38 billion to US$42 billion it set previously. “AI demand actually
Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), founder and CEO of US-based artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday celebrated the first Nvidia Blackwell wafer produced on US soil. Huang visited TSMC’s advanced wafer fab in the US state of Arizona and joined the Taiwanese chipmaker’s executives to witness the efforts to “build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a statement. At the event, Huang joined Y.L. Wang (王英郎), vice president of operations at TSMC, in signing their names on the Blackwell wafer to