ECONOMY
M1B grows 5.76%
Last month’s M1B — a measure of the money in circulation in the nation — grew 5.76 percent year-on-year, slower than the previous month’s 5.9 percent, the central bank reported on Friday last week. The M2 — which includes the M1B, time deposits, foreign-currency deposits and mutual funds — also saw annual growth decrease to 3.59 percent from 4.1 percent. The declines were mainly because of net foreign-capital outflows and slower growth in bank loans and investments, the central bank said. For the first seven months, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 5.33 percent and 3.70 percent respectively.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Equipment billings rise
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment last month reported worldwide billings of US$2.36 billion, international trade group SEMI reported on Thursday last week. The three-month average of worldwide billings for last month was 4.9 percent lower than June’s US$2.48 billion, but up 4.1 percent from US$2.27 billion in the same period last year, the group said. SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said global billings declined for the second month in a row, but the overall semiconductor equipment industry is expected to end this year with strong growth, driven by demand for memory products, high-performance computing chips and automotive electronics chips.
TRADE
TAITRA inks Finland deal
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) and its Finnish counterpart on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Taipei to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Businesses exchanges are expected to increase because of the agreement, TAITRA said. The agreement was signed by TAITRA and Business Finland — the major Finnish funding agency for financial research and innovation — at the Fifth Taiwan-Finland Economic and Trade Dialogue.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
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
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