Just as the Japanese comic book series Slam Dunk (灌籃高手) grabbed the hearts of Taiwan's basketball fans, another popular series, Hikaru No Go (棋靈王) has now become a craze with local youngsters, turning the traditional Chinese game of "go" into a profitable business.
"The widespread popularity that Japanese comics and cartoons have gained here over the past years has attracted an increasing number of people, mostly school children, to learn to play go," said Chin Shih-min (秦世敏), secretary general of the World Chinese Wei Qi Federation (
Go, known as wei qi in Mandarin, has traditionally been viewed as a pastime for the elderly.
"But now parents are sending their kids to after-school classes to acquire skills and at the same time improve their patience and concentration on schoolwork," said Chin, whose passion for the game began in 1969 when the Taiwanese go master Lin Hai-feng (林海峰) gained fame in Japan.
Early last year, an annual go tournament held in Taipei attracted 3,600 young players -- an astonishing sixfold increase from the first tournament in 1998, when just 600 people participated.
Within less than three years, go students nationwide have mushroomed to an estimated two million, said Kevin Zang (臧聲遠), chief editor of the local monthly magazine Career (就業情報), published by Career Consulting Co (就業情報資訊公司), at an event it held yesterday to give tips for success to small businesses.
"The effect created by the comic book fever will only snowball to attract more novice players," Zang said. "The situation will not be affected if one day Hikaru No Go fades from the market."
Zang cited United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) and CMC Magnetics Corp (中環) chairman Bob Wong (翁明顯) as prominent go lovers, to illustrate that go has become popular among executives in the high-tech sector -- another indication of how the game is becoming a lucrative business.
But the nation's qualified go teachers number fewer than 1,000, Chin said, pushing up these experts' salary levels.
"Some senior instructors in the so-called cram schools can earn up to NT$1.2 million (US$37,000) a year with bonuses delivered in both summer and winter," he added.
The fever has also driven up sales in go-related products, including comic books, animation, books and Web sites offering online tournaments.
"Setting aside how much money one can make by learning go, its spirit and the skills one can gain through learning it, should be key elements in revitalizing the traditional game," said Christina Ongg (翁靜玉), the magazine's chairwoman.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS