Hi-Life to join Sunda Post
Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富), the nation's third-largest convenience store chain, yesterday announced an alliance with the private postal firm Sunda Post (上大郵通) to offer 24-hour mail collection services. With no more than 100 units, the mail would only be charged NT$3 each when each unit weighs under 100g, said Hi-Life, which offers such services in its 1,300 outlets nationwide.
The new service would greatly benefit restaurants, clothing stores and hair salons for mailing a large amount of coupons, or insurance and direct selling firms when mailing catalogues and flysheets, it added.
Before the service is available, Sunda Post would have to pick up mail at its customers' places for delivery as only the state-run Taiwan Post Co (臺灣郵政) has mailboxes set up on the streets.
Minicar recall excludes orders
Those who had placed orders for Smart ForTwo minicars need not to worry, as the latest recall did not affect them, the Taiwan branch of German-US automaker DaimlerChrysler said yesterday.
"Pre-order of the cars started in April and we haven't yet brought them to Taiwan's market, except for one test drive unit," a company's public relation source said.
The orders, currently amount to around 20 units, will be delivered only starting from next month, so buyers could be rest assured their cars are not affected by the problem, she said.
Worldwide, DaimlerChrysler will recall 1,650 Smart ForTwo minicars to check for steering problems.
Ministry gives go-ahead
Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) yesterday confirmed that the ministry will give the go-ahead to Chinese investment projects from four chip testers and packagers in a regular review this week -- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), Greatek Electronics Inc (超豐) and Walton Advanced Engineering Inc (華東科技).
Chen said government official across the board found their investments would not bring a negative impact on local industry. Besides, those companies promised to invest more in their operation at home, he said.
CEPD approves power plants
The Council for Economic Planning and Development has approved a Ministry of Economic Affairs proposal to build offshore wind power plants, a spokesman said yesterday.
Taiwan theoretically has about 9 million kilowatts of potential wind power in costal areas, but only 1.2 million kilowatts of offshore wind power are exploitable after various restrictions are excluded, the spokesman said.
In order to ensure steady development, the government decided to implement the project in several phases, with the maximum wind power projected for the first phase set at 300,000kw.
IT firms to tour Vietnam
A delegation of Taiwanese computer firms is scheduled to make a five-day visit to Vietnam from July 1 to July 5 to seek new trade opportunities.
According to the Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會), the delegation will be headed by TCA board member Wang Chao-chun (王超群), chairman of Taipei-based LEO Systems Inc (國眾). Members of the group include senior executives of more than 10 companies in the information technology sector such as Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Tatung Co (大同) and Syscom Computer Engineering Co (凌群電腦).
During the delegation's stay in Ho Chih Minh City, it will attend a trade fair and visit IT-related associations and companies.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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