■ Trade
China surplus hits US$157bn
The nation announced yesterday a trade surplus of US$157 billion for the first 11 months of the year, just days before a key visit to Beijing by top US economic policy makers. The trade surplus was up 72.5 percent from the same period a year ago, the customs bureau said in a statement on its Web site. The bureau said it expected a trade surplus for the full year of US$168 billion which would imply a relatively moderate US$11 billion surplus in December.
■ Entertainment
Rank to sell Hard Rock
Rank Group PLC said Thursday it would sell its Hard Rock business, which includes the eponymous cafes, to the Seminole tribe of Florida for US$965 million. The Hard Rock business includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues and stakes in three unbranded hotels. Rank said it would keep the Hard Rock Casino in London but under the Rank Gaming brand. The sale, which is subject to shareholder approval, is scheduled to be completed in March.
■ Trade
Panama invited to join bloc
Panama has been asked by Brazil to join South America's Mercosur trade bloc as an observer, the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that during a visit by Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro, Brazil invited the Central American nation to join as an observer at a summit of the group in Rio de Janeiro in January. Observer status would allow Panama to participate in meetings of the trade bloc, which counts Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela as full members and Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as associate members.
■ Direct marketing
Firms win China licenses
Amway Corp and Mary Kay Inc have received direct-marketing licenses in China, ending an eight-year ban that limited the rival companies' recruitment of distributors. The relaxed rules could further open a market that, with more than US$2 billion in annual sales, has become the largest for Amway's parent company, Alticor Inc. Almost a third of Alticor's sales are made by Amway's subsidiary in China. "It's good news for us because it formalizes our regulations for the market, which is good news for any company. And while the rules for direct selling in China are different from the rest of the world, things have always been different in China," Amway spokesman Rob Zeiger said on Wednesday.
■ Technology
Microsoft to unveil library
Microsoft Corp planned to unveil an online library yesterday that would compete with Google Inc's controversial project to digitize the world's books. Microsoft said it would launch a US test of Live Search Books featuring tens of thousands of out-of-copyright books, including works from the British Library and major universities in Toronto and California. "With this initial release we've focused on making the reading experience as natural as possible," project director Cliff Guren wrote in a weblog entry posted on the Microsoft website. The Redmond, Washington, company has made fresh book-scanning partnerships with New York Public Library and the American Museum of Veterinary Medicine, according to Guren.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
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