Japanese revolving sushi bar restaurant chain Kura Sushi yesterday opened its first overseas flagship restaurant in Kaohsiung. It is also the chain’s 51st outlet in Taiwan.
With an area of 2,000 ping (6,612m2), the flagship restaurant is the largest Kura Sushi outlet in the world, accommodating 288 customers, said Kura Sushi Asia Co (亞洲藏壽司), the company’s Taiwanese subsidiary.
The restaurant designed by Kasiwa Sato combines sightseeing and food, and features 100 Japanese-style lanterns at the front of the outlet, Kura Sushi Asia said.
Photo: CNA
The chain arrived in Taiwan in 2014 with the goal of opening 50 restaurants, a target achieved in January, Kura Sushi Asia chairman Kentaro Nishikawa said.
Kura Sushi has opened four global flagship restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka, and is launching its first overseas flagship outlet in Kaohsiung as it is upbeat about an anticipated boom in the local tourism, and food and beverage industries, the company said.
The conveyor belt sushi chain has 530 restaurants in Japan, 46 in the US, 51 in Taiwan and is set to open its first outlet in Shanghai this year, Nishikawa said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
While many restaurants withdrew from China due to its strict COVID-19 restrictions over the past few years, Kuro Sushi considers it a potential market for business growth and plans to open more stores there, he said.
The firm aims to increase its number of overseas restaurants to 400 by 2030, he added.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS