BANKING
Next Commercial approved
Web-only Next Commercial Bank Co (將來商業銀行) yesterday obtained regulatory approval to begin operations, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement. The bank is the last of three Internet-based banks that planned to launch services in Taiwan. The two other banks, Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀) and Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行), began operations earlier this year. Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said that Next Commercial would need to prepare for a couple of months and run a small-scale trial before launching its services. Established in August 2019, the bank’s major shareholders include state-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
INVESTMENT
‘Invest in Taiwan’ to extend
The government is likely to extend its “Invest in Taiwan” initiative for another three years, but new projects would have to meet additional environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) requirements, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told an investment forum in Taipei on Wednesday. The initiative, which began in July 2019, was to end this year. Only advanced manufacturing projects — preferably in a “strategically important sector” that provides “high-value manufacturing” and generates quality employment opportunities — would be approved. After being extended, the program would likely require companies to fullfill additional items such as demonstrating that they are meeting realistic ESG goals and implementing decarbonization efforts, Kung said.
LOTTERY
‘Gaming’ of lottery to stop
People who attempt to “game the system” by making a large number of small purchases to win cash awards in the uniform invoice lottery would no longer be eligible to claim such awards as of next year, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday. Starting on Jan. 1, people who buy a large number of low-priced items just to increase their chances in the lottery would be prohibited from claiming any winnings, an amendment to the Uniform Invoice Award Regulations (統一發票給獎辦法) states. However, what constitutes “a large number” or “low-priced” is not defined. The ministry said there are scenarios that it considers to be “proper,” such as group shopping, in which case, the invoices would be “legitimate winners” if drawn. Enforcement would not pursue “improper” invoices drawn prior to next month, it said.
RETAIL
Me-Time stores planned
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) — which runs the Eslite bookstores, department stores and other businesses — plans to open its second Eslite Me-Time outlet in Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北) next year. The company aims to open 100 of the small neighborhood stores over the next three years, after launching the first one in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) in October. The company is “soon to open” a new bookstore in the Far Eastern Department Store (遠東百貨) in New Taipei City, Eslite president Li Chieh-hsiu (李介修) said on Monday. Eslite aims to open an 18,000 ping (59,504m2) mega outlet in a shopping mall being developed by the Yulon Group (裕隆) in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) in 2023, and an 8,000 ping store in Tainan in 2024, Li added. Eslite posted a net loss of NT$4.66 per share in the first nine months of this year, compared with a net profit of NT$0.43 over the same period last year.
China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the first quarter of next year, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, two people familiar with the matter said. The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C — its newest chip, meant to rival those made by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp — to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters. The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on its N+2 process, but a lack
TECH BOOST: New TSMC wafer fabs in Arizona are to dramatically improve US advanced chip production, a report by market research firm TrendForce said With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) pouring large funds into Arizona, the US is expected to see an improvement in its status to become the second-largest maker of advanced semiconductors in 2027, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report last week. TrendForce estimates the US would account for a 21 percent share in the global advanced integrated circuit (IC) production market by 2027, sharply up from the current 9 percent, as TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three wafer fabs in Arizona, the report said. TrendForce defined the advanced chipmaking processes as the 7-nanometer process or more
NVIDIA PLATFORM: Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and a Taiwan site is to enter production next month, Nvidia wrote on its blog Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest electronics manufacturer, yesterday said it is expanding production capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) servers based on Nvidia Corp’s Blackwell chips in Taiwan, the US and Mexico to cope with rising demand. Hon Hai’s new AI-enabled factories are to use Nvidia’s Omnivores platform to create 3D digital twins to plan and simulate automated production lines at a factory in Hsinchu, the company said in a statement. Nvidia’s Omnivores platform is for developing industrial AI simulation applications and helps bring facilities online faster. Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and the
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
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