Chinese farmers will be given a 13 percent discount on televisions, mobile phones and other electrical appliances under a new subsidy scheme to boost rural spending, state press reported yesterday.
A pilot program will begin for three of the nation's major agricultural provinces under which the government will offer the subsidy for TVs, mobile phones and refrigerators, the China Daily reported, citing the finance ministry.
Once the scheme is expanded, air conditioners and washing machines will also attract a subsidy, according to the ministry.
However, the 13 percent figure was only given for the pilot program, which will begin early next year in Shandong, Henan and Sichuan provinces.
China's economic boom has brought unprecedented wealth to the nation's cities, but many of the 800 million people living in the countryside have missed out on much of the development.
The new scheme reportedly aims to partly address this issue, as well as to get more people to buy local products rather than have the bulk of electrical appliances exported overseas.
"The move is meant to give farmers more benefits and divert more government expenditure to the consumer sector from fixed asset investment and the export industry," finance ministry official Zeng Xiaoan (曾曉安) was quoted as saying.
"If 1 percent of rural families buy TV sets priced at 1,000 yuan each, it means 2.5 billion yuan [in sales]," Zeng said.
Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and mobile phones accounted for 28 percent of China's trade surplus last year, the report said.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98