Samsung profit climbs on chips, pricey phones
Samsung profit climbs on chips, pricey phonesBloombergSamsung Electronics Co’s operating profit rose more than 25 percent thanks to rising prices for semiconductors and surprisingly strong demand for its pricey foldable smartphones. The world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones has benefited from strong demand as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: APIn the mobile business, Samsung is ramping up production to meet strong demand for its foldable phones. “DRAM operating profit could climb due to sequential bit growth of 3-5 percent and also price rises in 3Q. NAND may also drive strong profit growth in 3Q due to a 10-15 percent sequential rise in bit shipments with a price increase of 5-9 percent.
Source:Taipei Times
October 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
US forces training Taiwanese: official
US forces training Taiwanese: officialRAMPING UP SUPPORT? The Pentagon official said that the drills have been going on for less than a year, after similar reports were denied in November last yearAFP, WASHINGTONUS special operations forces have been quietly training Taiwanese soldiers for months, risking the ire of China, a US Department of Defense official said on Thursday. In this file photo taken on January 17, 2017 Taiwan special forces personnel walk behind an armoured personnel carrier during an annual military drill in Taichung. US special operations forces and marines have been secretly training Taiwanese troops for at least a year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. In November last year, local media reported that US troops had arrived in the nation to train Taiwanese marines and special forces in small-boat and amphibious operations.
Source:Taipei Times
October 08, 2021 15:56 UTC
Insurer Chubb to acquire Cigna in Asia, Turkey
Insurer Chubb to acquire Cigna in Asia, TurkeyReuters, SingaporeUS insurer Chubb Ltd has agreed to buy health insurer Cigna Corp’s life, accident and supplemental benefits businesses in Asia-Pacific and Turkey for US$5.75 billion in cash, both insurers said, marking the latest consolidation in Asia’s insurance sector. “The addition of Cigna’s business, which is overwhelmingly accident and health, will rebalance our global portfolio towards this important region,” Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg said. In August, HSBC Holdings agreed to acquire French insurer Axa’s Singapore assets for US$575 million. Last year, Singapore Life, an upstart insurer backed by investors including buyout group TPG, acquired the Singapore business of British insurer Aviva for nearly US$2 billion as it expands in Southeast Asia. Cigna said Chubb is acquiring Cigna’s business in South Korea and would to continue to operate it under the LINA Korea brand.
Source:Taipei Times
October 08, 2021 05:15 UTC
DPP Legislator Fan urges transparency at delivery apps
DPP Legislator Fan urges transparency at delivery appsCALL FOR REGULATION: Secretive algorithms determining payments deprive drivers of their right to negotiate their wages, Fan Yun saidBy Wu Su-wei and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, staff writerFood delivery platforms should not use secretive algorithms to set drivers’ wages, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) and labor rights advocates said yesterday. Foodpanda’s drivers formerly receive NT$60 per delivery, but the firm has changed its policy and cut their nominal pay to about NT$35 to NT$40 per delivery, he said. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun, center, attends a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Although the platform claims that the algorithm rewards drivers who make more successful deliveries, drivers cannot view their ratings, he said. The platform can alter its algorithm without giving notice, depriving drivers of their right to negotiate wages, Fan said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Fed up by pandemic, US workers launch strikes
The actions come on top of strikes earlier this summer by 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, and 1,000 workers at five Nabisco Inc plants across the US. Workers from a Kellogg cereal plant picket outside a company plant in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday. Kellogg workers are also striking in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Non-union fast food workers have walked off the job in dozens of US cities seeking a US$15 minimum wage. Some workers said they have endured 12-hour shifts seven days per week throughout the pandemic, with only a few minutes’ notice about mandatory overtime.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Macronix posts record high monthly revenue
Macronix posts record high monthly revenueBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterMacronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest supplier of NOR flash memory chips, yesterday reported that revenue last month expanded 13.3 percent to a record high of NT$5.68 billion (US$203.2 million), up from NT$5.01 billion in August. The company has posted monthly revenue highs since April amid robust customer demand for its chips used in servers, automotive parts, medical equipment and industrial products, as well as 5G-related applications. Robust demand for memory chips also boosted sales at Phison Electronics Corp (群聯電子), a supplier of NAND flash memory controllers and modules. Phison reported NT$16.93 billion in revenue for last quarter, a record high for the company. The company said it is bullish about market demand and revenue growth this quarter, thanks to growing uptake of 5G devices.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Russia offers to help ease gas crisis
On a chaotic day that saw European benchmark gas surge 40 percent within a few minutes, Putin eased prices by offering to help stabilize the situation. Russia could potentially export record volumes of the vital fuel to the continent this year, he said. Quick certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline would be one way to achieve this, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. Shipping greater volumes of gas through Ukraine is “economically unprofitable for Gazprom, because it is more expensive,” Putin said. National Grid yesterday also published a gas outlook in which it said that it expects to have enough gas to meet demand this winter.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
GM introducing hands-free auto
GM introducing hands-free autoAFP, New YorkGeneral Motors Co (GM) on Wednesday unveiled plans to double revenues by 2030 as it ramps up electric vehicle production, and in 2023 launch an automobile that can be operated hands-free in most situations. Building on a series of earlier electric vehicle investment announcements, the big US automaker said it was on track to rapidly scale up its electric vehicle (EV) business, which is to include a vehicle priced at US$30,000, cheaper than offerings from Tesla Inc and other rivals. General Motors CEO Mary Barra attends a media event at the GM Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, on March 22, 2019. Photo: Reuters“The vehicle has become a software platform,” GM CEO Mary Barra said at a briefing with reporters ahead of a two-day investor presentation. “There are so many growth opportunities we have.”GM announced that its “Ultra Cruise” program, set to launch in 2023 on a premium vehicle, would enable hands-free operation in 95 percent of driving scenarios.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Sector-specific boost
Mask mandate might be relaxedALERT TO REMAIN: The CECC said that agencies have relayed complaints from people saying there is no need for a farmer in a field or a family hiking to wear masks Taiwan’s mask mandate is to be relaxed from tomorrow as the number of domestic cases of COVID-19 has fallen, but the level 2 alert will be extended, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said yesterday. The CECC is reconsidering mask requirements while outdoors in areas where there are few people, Chen said. Government agencies have relayed complaints about having to wear a mask in places where there are few people, such as a farmer working in a field or a family hiking, he said. As Taiwan reported an average of two locally transmitted
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Chipmakers resist US bid for client data
The issue has become particularly thorny in Taiwan, home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than half of the global contract chipmaking market. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co general counsel Sylvia Fang is pictured at the Hsinchu Science Park on Wednesday. Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times“TSMC absolutely will not hand over sensitive information, particularly client data,” TSMC general counsel Sylvia Fang (方淑華) told reporters on Wednesday. The Joongang Daily also cited unidentified people at local chipmakers as saying that they might have a difficult time complying with the requests. In the questionnaire, chipmakers were asked to comment on inventories, backlogs, delivery times, procurement practices and what they were doing to increase output.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Largan posts lowest margin since 2015
Gross margin fell to the lowest level on a quarterly basis since 2015, according to data provided by the Taichung-based handset camera lens maker. 8P refers to a camera lens module that contains eight thin layers of plastic pieces. The firm is also developing “double freeform” optical lenses that would solve proportion issues that cause some people in a photograph to appear larger than others. Lin, who seldom comments on stock prices, said that Largan is contemplating stock buyback programs. While handset lenses remain Largan’s mainstay products, the company is also expanding into augmented and virtual reality, and automotive camera lens markets, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
World food prices rise to 10-year peak: UN agency
World food prices rise to 10-year peak: UN agencyReuters, PARISWorld food prices rose for a second consecutive month last month to reach a 10-year peak, driven by gains for cereals and vegetable oils, the UN food agency said yesterday. The agency’s food price index, which tracks prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 130 points last month, the highest reading since September 2011, FAO data showed. That was led by a near 4 percent increase in wheat prices, attributed by the agency to tightening export availabilities amid strong demand. Vegetable oil prices were up 1.7 percent month-on-month, or about 60 percent year-on-year, as palm oil prices climbed on robust import demand and concerns over labor shortages in Malaysia, the agency said. For cereal production, it projected a record world crop of 2.8 billion tonnes this year, up slightly from 2.788 billion tonnes estimated a month ago.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
7-Eleven to be launched in India
7-Eleven to be launched in IndiaAFP, MUMBAI, IndiaMukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, is set to open India’s first 7-Eleven convenience store, as his Reliance Industries Ltd conglomerate boosts its retail presence in the vast market of 1.3 billion people. Yesterday’s announcement of a franchise agreement comes two days after India’s second-largest supermarket chain, Future Retail Ltd, terminated its 2019 deal with 7-Eleven Inc to open 1,000 stores. Photo: Reuters“7-Eleven is among the most iconic global brands in the convenience retail landscape ... [and] will offer Indian customers greater convenience and choices within their own neighborhoods,” said Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd and Mukesh’s daughter. Debt-ridden Future Retail, which owns popular brands such as Big Bazaar, said that it was unable to “meet the target of opening stores and payment of franchisee fees” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven operates or licenses more than 77,000 stores in 18 countries and regions, but has faced a delayed entry to the Indian market.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
Chinese-language learning centers being set up in US
Chinese-language learning centers being set up in USStaff writer, with CNAPlans are being laid out to establish on-campus Chinese-language learning centers in the US, following the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between 12 Taiwanese and US universities last month, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The program includes sending Taiwanese educators to teach Chinese at select US universities, while US students are offered the opportunity to study at Chinese-language learning centers in Taiwan. The memorandum was signed by National Tsing Hua University, Tamkang University, Tunghai University, National Taiwan University, National Dong Hwa University and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages from Taiwan, and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, University of Michigan-Flint, North Park University, Indiana University Bloomington, Oakland University and Southern Illinois University from the US. She said she looked forward to Taiwan assisting the US in the promotion of Chinese-language education through future cooperation between the two countries. It said it hoped the Taiwan Huayu Best project would benefit the government’s 2030 Bilingual Nation Policy by drawing English-speaking talent to Taiwan to teach after learning Chinese through the project.
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC
A century of changing traditions
A century of changing traditionsOpening yesterday, the latest ‘Century of Craftsmanship’ exhibition at Bopiliao Historic Block explores how 13 century-year-old shops in Wanhua have adjusted to various changes, including the latest COVID-19 outbreakBy Han Cheung / Staff reporterLongdu Ice Dessert Parlor (龍都冰果專業家) is no stranger to weathering outbreaks. A general view of the A Century of Craftsmanship: The Wanhua Story exhibition. Lin was tasked with interviewing the shop owners and writing the exhibition’s text (unfortunately only the main parts are translated into English). Author and exhibition researcher Lin Li-ching, right, introduces the Longshan Buddha Shop along with the shop’s sixth-generation owner Lee Tzu-yung. I hope that over the next 100 years, we business owners can continue to innovate while passing on traditions.”
Source:Taipei Times
October 07, 2021 15:56 UTC