The double-digit growth in Taiwan’s bicycle export volume, value and average selling price last year has reinforced the country as one of world’s leading bike exporters, an industry expert said yesterday.
Last year, Taiwan exported 5.4 million bicycles, an increase of 13.7 percent from 2007, while the value of bicycle exports surged 31.6 percent to reach US$1.39 billion, statistics showed.
“The average selling price of Taiwan-exported bicycles last year was US$256.92, 15.78 percent growth from US$221.91 in 2007, which shows that the nation’s bicycle makers have been moving toward innovation and value-added products,” Taiwan Bicycle Exporters’ Association chairman Yang Ying-ming (楊銀明) said at the opening ceremony for this year’s Taipei International Cycle Show (Taipei CYCLE).
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei CYCLE, which began yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall, is the largest bicycle show in Asia and third-largest in the world.
Unlike other international bicycle trade shows, Yang said Taipei CYCLE mainly showcases high-end bicycles, which explained why so many international buyers came here to look at the latest products.
Yang said Taiwan now dominates the mid- to high-end segment of the world’s bicycle market because its makers have the capability of producing large numbers of bicycles by setting up manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Europe. Moreover, Taiwanese bicycle makers managed to dominate global sales channels through mergers and acquisitions, he said.
“The bicycle industry is one of the few traditional industries in Taiwan that has good output volume, production technology, brand and sales channel,” Yang said. “The industry chain and history of Taiwan’s bicycle industry can serve as a model for other traditional industries.”
Yang also lauded the Cabinet’s decision on Jan. 19 to approve the Sports Affairs Council’s plan to invest NT$4 billion (US$116.69 million) in building a nationwide network of bike paths, which he said would help boost the bicycle tourism market in Taiwan.
This year’s Taipei CYCLE is the largest in the show’s 22-year history, with a total of 762 domestic and international suppliers using 2,888 booths to showcase their latest products, the event’s organizer said.
“The numbers of booths and international buyers have both reached historic highs this year,” Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said at the opening ceremony. “The bicycle industry is obviously not affected by the financial crisis.”
A projected 5,000 international buyers are expected to attend the show, TAITRA estimated. The show attracted 185 international suppliers from 32 countries and 577 domestic suppliers.
Taipei Cycle ends on Friday. The show is open to professional buyers only from Monday until tomorrow, and to buyers and the public on Friday. Admission is NT$200 each.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS