The number of furloughed workers on formal unpaid leave programs in Taiwan rose over the past week, boosted by an increase in the manufacturing sector, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.
The number of workers placed on furlough programs rose to 15,927 nationwide as of yesterday, up 981 from 14,946 on Tuesday last week, ministry data showed.
The manufacturing sector was the main contributor to the increase in the number of furloughed workers, Labor Conditions and Equal Employment Division deputy head Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉) said.
The number of furloughed workers in the manufacturing sector rose 458 to 7,389, the biggest hike among business sectors, Wang said.
The number of employers in the manufacturing sector implementing unpaid leave programs also rose by 78 to 2,133 over the past week.
The number of furloughed workers in the metal and mechanical industries rose by 387 to 3,907, Wang said.
A textile machinery maker has furloughed 60 to 300 employees at a time since September last year, before deciding to give employees an extra one to two days of unpaid leave this month, because its customers scaled back orders, Wang said.
Wang said that the number of furloughed workers in the manufacturing sector is closely related to customer orders, which have been affected by the international political and economic situation, such as the war in Ukraine.
Domestic demand-oriented sectors have been stable, including the support services sector, which primarily consists of travel agencies, and wholesale and retail businesses, Wang added.
Those industries only saw about 100 workers in small firms placed on unpaid leave over the past week, Wang said.
In the support services sector, the number of workers on unpaid leave increased to 5,329, from 5,225 a week earlier, and the number of employers implementing furlough programs rose from 1,045 to 1,061.
The number of furloughed workers in the retail and wholesale sector rose to 1,301, up 149 from a week earlier, and the number in the lodging, and food and beverage industry rose from 592 to 597.
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
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
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
RSS