E-COMMERCE
Revenue soars to NT$3.54tn
The nation’s e-commerce sector saw revenue soar 73.8 percent between 2011 and 2016 to NT$3.54 trillion (US$118 billion) because of a growing range of apps and an explosion in the number of mobile devices, according to a survey conducted every five years by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS). E-commerce sales in 2016 represented about 5.8 percent of the total revenue generated by the local manufacturing and service sectors, the DGBAS said on Friday last week. The manufacturing sector accounted for 73.7 percent of total e-commerce sales in 2016, mainly through business-to-business (B2B) sales, while the service sector made up the remaining 26.3 percent, it said. B2B online transactions totaled NT$3.01 trillion in 2016, while revenue generated through business to consumers online transactions totaled NT$525.74 billion, it added.
CHIPMAKERS
Samsung overtakes Intel
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) remained the world’s third-largest integrated circuit supplier in the first quarter, as the company’s sales grew 13 percent to US$8.47 billion from a year earlier, according to IC Insights. Samsung Electronics Co replaced Intel Corp as the world’s biggest semiconductor supplier in the first quarter after its sales rose 43 percent year-on-year to US$19.40 billion, ahead of Intel’s US$15.83 billion, IC Insights said. SK Hynix Inc and Micron Technology Inc ranked fourth and fifth with sales of US$8.14 billion and US$7.36 billion respectively, followed by Broadcom Inc (US$4.59 billion), Qualcomm Inc (US$3.90 billion), Toshiba Corp (US$3.83 billion), Texas Instruments Inc (US$3.57 billion) and Nvidia Inc (US$3.11 billion), it said.
FOOTWEAR
Shui-Mu back in the black
Shui-Mu International Co Ltd (阿瘦實業), which markets and retails own-brand footwear, swung into a profit in the first quarter of this year thanks to efforts to adjust its brands, which helped improve its product mix and led to better profitability. The company, which sells footwear under its brands A.S.O. and BESO, as well as producing footwear for foreign brands, said last week its net profit was NT$11.59 million in the first quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.17, compared with a net loss of NT$38.41 million a year earlier. Cumulative sales in the first four months totaled NT$564.09 million, up 2.16 percent year-on-year, it said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Enimmune to trial vaccine
Enimmune Corp, a 51 percent-owned subsidiary of vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技), yesterday announced that it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to commence multinational phase III clinical trials of its enterovirus 71 vaccine. Enimmune said that it expects to gain marketing approval for the vaccine from the regulator by 2020.
ENERGY
CPC signs battery deal
State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s TDK and Taiwanese battery and charging network developer Eternalergy (碩城科技) to form a joint venture to develop batteries for electric scooters. The two Taiwanese companies are expected to take a controlling stake in the subsidiary, with CPC to hold a majority 49 percent stake, the state-run company said. CPC said that it plans to supply lithium titanate and other materials, and build batteries based on TDK’s research to tap Southeast Asian markets.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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