■ LABOR
Employees protest layoffs
More than 100 employees protested yesterday at the Taiwan Fluorescent Lamp Co (台灣日光燈) after the local lamp maker unexpectedly announced it would lay off 300 employees, local cable TV channel ETTV reported. The report also said Taiwan Fluorescent would suspend operations at some of its factories, without elaborating. Taiwan Fluorescent was founded in 1954 in Jhutung Township (竹東), Hsinchu County, and is the largest light manufacturer and supplier in the country. It has NT$20 billion (US$621.6 million) in real estate assets in Sindian (新店), Jhubei (竹北) and Bali (八里), the report said. The company was delisted from the local bourse last July, following a series of financial difficulties, the report said.
■ PETROLEUM
Gas prices to stay same
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) announced on Friday that gasoline and diesel fuel prices will remain unchanged this month. Prices of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and fuel oil will also be maintained at the current level to help stabilize consumer prices and boost industrial competitiveness, CPC said in a statement. As a result, prices will remain at NT$32.2 per liter for 98-octane unleaded gasoline, NT$30.7 per liter for 95-octane unleaded, NT$30 per liter for 92-octane unleaded, and NT$27.5 per liter for super diesel fuel.Had it followed a floating price mechanism the government introduced in January last year, however, CPC would have raised the price of gasoline by more than NT$2 a liter.
■ RETAIL
Giant Hello Kitty unveiled
Hello Kitty may already loom large in the hearts of millions around the world, but now the bubble-headed feline can boast of being just plain big, too. Japan's Sanrio Co unveiled a 2.5m tall monument to its popular character at its flagship store in Tokyo's bustling Shinjuku District. "Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, so Kitty must be here and must be big," Sanrio official Shuichi Chimura said. "She is really loved worldwide. This way, every person in the world can come here and see and touch Hello Kitty." The statue is the largest Hello Kitty figure in the world, the company said.
■ INTERNET
Another undersea cable cut
Another undersea Internet cable has been damaged, adding to the disruption in Indian online services caused when several lines were cut earlier this week, a cable operating firm said yesterday. The Falcon cable was cut 56km from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner FLAG Telecom, part of India's Reliance Communications. The company said on its Web site that a repair ship had been notified and was expected to arrive at the site in the next few days. The cause of the latest cable damage was not immediately known. Flag Telecom also owns the undersea cable that was damaged off Egypt on Wednesday.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota mulls China plant
Japanese auto giant Toyota is considering building a new plant in China to boost its presence in the country's rapidly growing car market, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. Toyota Motor Corp is studying a plan to build a new assembly factory in Changchun, Jilin Province, with an annual production capacity estimated at 100,000 units, the business daily said. It would likely invest US$469 million to construct the plant, with operations expected to begin in the early 2010s.
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to grow its revenue by about 25 percent to a new record high next year, driven by robust demand for advanced technologies used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications and crypto mining, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. That would see TSMC secure a 67 percent share of the world’s foundry market next year, from 64 percent this year, IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) predicted. In the broader foundry definition, TSMC would see its market share rise to 36 percent next year from 33 percent this year, he said. To address concerns
Intel Corp chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said that a formal separation of the company’s factory and product development divisions is an open question that would be decided by the chipmaker’s next leader. Zinsner, who is serving as interim co-CEO following this month’s ouster of Pat Gelsinger, made the remarks on Thursday at the Barclays technology conference in San Francisco alongside co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Intel’s struggles to keep pace with rivals — along with its deteriorating financial condition — have spurred speculation that the next CEO would make dramatic changes. That has included talk of a split of the company’s manufacturing
PROTECTIONISM: The tariffs would go into effect on Jan. 1 and are meant to protect the US’ clean energy sector from unfair Chinese practices, the US trade chief said US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to raise tariffs on solar wafers, polysilicon and some tungsten products from China to protect US clean energy businesses. The notice from the Office of US Trade Representative (USTR) said tariffs on Chinese-made solar wafers and polysilicon would rise to 50 percent from 25 percent and duties on certain tungsten products would increase from zero to 25 percent, effective on Jan. 1, following a review of Chinese trade practices under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. The decision followed a public comment period after the USTR said in September that it was considering
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