COFFEE
Odd Starbucks hits record
A container renovated into a Starbucks in Hualien Bay (洄瀾灣) on Wednesday posted revenue of NT$1.97 million (US$64,375) on its first day of operation, a record high for any outlet in Taiwan, Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) said yesterday. There are 450 Starbucks outlets nationwide. Nearly 2,000 customers visited the store in Hualien County, which operators hope will become a popular check-in spot for people commuting between Hualien and Taitung, the Taipei-based developer said. The 89 ping (294m2) coffee shop contains 89 seats, TLDC said. Turning an old container into a coffee shop is in line with efforts to promote an eco-friendly economy, TLDC said.
TRANSPORTATION
New way to buy rail tickets
A new option to pick up high-speed rail tickets at convenience stores became available yesterday through the “T Express” app, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSR, 台灣高鐵) said. T Express, THSR’s official mobile booking system, was launched in 2011. A new feature enables passengers to make online reservations on the app, instead of having to wait in line at a ticket counter or use an automated ticket machine, the company said. Customers can now pay and receive their tickets at 7-Eleven stores using a barcode sent after making a booking on T Express, it said. Other partnering convenience store chains would be announced at a later date, THSR added.
EQUITIES
TAIEX closes up 0.55%
The TAIEX closed above 11,000 points yesterday, despite an interest rate hike in the US and Wall Street’s overnight decline. The TAIEX closed up 0.55 percent at 11,034.19 on turnover of NT$122.88 billion. All the major categories gained ground except for the food sector, which fell 0.46 percent, and the textile segment, which lost 0.04 percent. The bellwether electronics index ended 0.37 percent higher, while the financial index surged 0.78 percent. Among the major electronics stocks, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, gained 0.57 percent to close at NT$265, while Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), an assembler of iPhones and iPads, closed up 1.8 percent at NT$78.7. Largan Precision Co (大立光), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple, finished 0.27 percent higher at NT$3,780.
TRANSPORTATION
Germany keen to cooperate
Germany and Taiwan could be partners in the development of smart transportation, since both sides are venturing into the market and have many resources to share, German Trade Office Taipei Executive Director Axel Limberg said ahead of a seminar on Wednesday about how smart mobility is applied in the two nations. New technologies and concepts related to smart mobility have the potential to make urban traffic more efficient, reduce congestion and improve air quality, Limberg said. There is great potential for cooperation between Taiwan and Germany to make smarter mobility a reality, he added. Smart mobility and transportation systems are expected to generate more than 8 billion euros (US$9.35 billion) in value for related industries in Taiwan by 2020, the office said. Likewise, the German Federal Government has provided funding of almost 5 billion euros for electric mobility since 2009 and has established a regulatory framework to benefit development, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
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