Category：Finance

Kumamoto apartments lay empty as TSMC staff opt for entire homes

After TSMC announced the establishment of its Kumamoto campus, developers flooded the market with three-bedroom apartments hoping to rent them to employees. But things didn’t go quite as planned. Seeing that property prices were cheaper than in Taiwan, with an entire detached home costing only NT$10 million, many wealthy Taiwanese bought up the apartments but left them vacant. Japanese media are now calling the area a "ghost town."

After TSMC confirmed it was to open in Kumamoto in 2021, developers scrambled to start building homes to accommodate the influx, expecting the “TSMC effect” to bring crowds, capital, and high property prices. But many of the three-bedroom apartments built at the time are now lying vacant. Property managers admit that real estate near the factory is in oversupply.

Lee Chi-yueh
Kumamoto property manager
A massive wave of property handovers began in 2024 or 2025, when the pace of construction on the second fab slowed down a bit. Right now, there’s a need to absorb inventory. But there aren’t many renters and rental prices are falling, although valuations haven’t dropped significantly along with them.

Apartment rentals have fallen short of expectations, because Taiwanese buyers are opting instead for detached homes. For only NT$10 million, they’ve found they can get a place that also has three bedrooms as well as a garden and parking. Compared with Taiwan, it’s a bargain, attracting many wealthy TSMC employees and investors to buy outright.

Lee Chi-yueh
Kumamoto property manager
Finding tenants hasn’t been as easy as initially imagined. Properties have been sitting vacant for six months or even a full year. Those able to buy real estate overseas usually already own some property in Taiwan and aren’t in a rush to rent it out. They figure they can just pop over to visit whenever they have the time, so leaving it empty is fine. It’ll take around three years to digest the inventory and recover.

Insiders said that although there’s an oversupply now, once TSMC’s second fab starts operations in 2029, housing demand will increase again. Coupled with potential plans to build a third fab, the outlook remains positive when looking five to 10 years into the future.

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#TSMC #Kumamoto #JASM #realestate #property #propertymarket #housing #investment

2026-09-30

30 technologies on display at 2026 ITRI ICT TechDay

From drones that can navigate warehouses by themselves, to AI that can turn a solo musician into a one-person band, Taiwan is showcasing some of its latest tech innovations. At the 2026 ITRI ICT Tech Day, 30 technologies are on display, spanning AI, advanced communications, satellite networks and autonomous systems. The event highlights how these cutting-edge technologies are moving beyond the lab and into industries, and even our everyday lives.

A drone takes off and makes its way carefully across the warehouse, without anyone manning it. ITRI showcased its Intelligent Indoor Precision Drone Inspection System, which can inspect indoor spaces autonomously without a prebuilt map. This reduces manual inventory checks from several days to a few hours.

Michael Li
ITRI ICL
The camera technology keeps track of the drone’s positioning indoors.

Who said AI is just a tool for work? It can also be used for music, thanks to a new smart system to learn to play musical instruments. The technology can generate responsive AI accompaniment from live performances, detecting and adapting to tempo changes in real time. Now you can really be a one-person band.

Kuo Chao-chung
MOEA Department of Industrial Technology
The world is keeping an eye on Taiwan. Do you know why? They are hoping that we develop innovations faster, better and cheaper, so that they can improve everyone’s wellbeing in their countries.

Ting Pang-an
ITRI ICL
Communications are kind of like the connections between nervous systems, while AI has a cerebellum and a brain of its own. In the future, we will be seeing densely connected and highly intelligent autonomous systems integrated in different industries and assisting us with every aspect of our daily lives.

Guided by MOEA’s Department of Industrial Technology, ITRI has collaborated with four major research organizations and six agencies to host the 2026 ITRI ICT TechDay. A total of 30 technologies are on display covering key areas such as B5G base-station chips, 6G network management, multi-orbit satellite communications and AI applications. Leading experts and companies from Taiwan and abroad gathered at the event to witness Taiwan’s AI capabilities.

Stewart Wu
Metanoia Communications CEO
Some of our systems and software have been developed in very close cooperation with ITRI.

Allen Lai
Chiao Fu Material Technology
ITRI’s Material and Chemical Research Laboratories, the Plastics Industry Development Center and the Information and Communications Research Laboratories have assisted us to take huge steps forward to develop rare-earth and material alternatives for UAVs and robots.

From smart inspection systems and immersive entertainment to advanced communications, MOEA’s Department of Industrial Technology and ITRI are putting Taiwan’s technological innovation and R&D strength on full display.
#itri #tech #smart #robots #uav

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2026-09-30

TSMC rumored to be considering second US site with 6 fabs in Texas

Could TSMC be preparing to expand to Texas? As it builds new facilities in Taiwan, Japan, Germany and the US, market rumors have emerged about an extra project in the US. The rumors claim that TSMC is considering a second manufacturing site with up to six fabs in Texas. Analysts say the plan seems unlikely, as a Texas expansion may be looking too far ahead. TSMC has yet to comment on the report.

TSMC’s production facility in the US state of Arizona continues to grow as steel beams can now be spotted at the site of Fab 3. Market rumors say TSMC has even bigger ambitions, to build a six-fab hub in Texas.

Nobunaga Chai
Cloud Express
Even though TSMC is making a lot of money, it’s not enough to support projects in both Arizona and Texas. The US facilities are still a very long way from completion. And in Taiwan, there’s the 1.4nm fab in Taichung and the 2nm fab in Kaohsiung.

An analyst says the great expansion is unlikely, as TSMC is spending a lot of money to ramp up production in Taiwan and to build facilities in Arizona, where costs are higher.

C.C. Wei (July 17)
TSMC CEO
We would like to announce an additional US$100 billion investment in Arizona.

TSMC initially committed US$65 billion to Arizona. Then, in 2025, the project expanded with plans to add three more fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and an R&D center. The project grew again with an investment of US$100 billion to build four more fabs and advanced packaging facilities. This totals to an investment of US$265 billion.

Nobunaga Chai
Cloud Express
The capacity should be enough to meet demand already. If you then add a site in Texas, that would go overboard. I don’t think there’s a high chance of any of that happening between 2030 and 2035. With Samsung’s Taylor facility and Intel’s capacity expansion, there isn’t really a need for more.

As of press time, TSMC had not responded to the reports. An analyst says that among the many factors to consider for an expansion at this scale would be that TSMC needs need firm commitments from clients before taking action.

#tsmc #tech #chips #semiconductor #tech

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2026-09-29

Hotel offers free rings, honeymoon to attract wedding banquet business

The Ministry of Labor recently extended marriage leave from eight days to 14, starting from Oct. 1. To capitalize on the lucrative wedding banquet market, one five-star hotel is rolling out its own all-inclusive bundle. In addition to an entertaining roast duck dinner, it’s offering progressive rewards where the more tables you book, the more perks you can get. By booking a certain number of tables, couples can get wedding cookies, diamond rings, bridal gowns, and even honeymoons for free, helping newlyweds cut costs.

A happy newlywed couple walk hand in hand as they take the stage in front of their guests.

Inviting friends and family to witness their special day naturally means the couple will also have to treat them to some exquisite food. It’s rare to see roast duck prepared three ways on a wedding menu. Targeting busy couples overwhelmed with preparations, one five-star hotel is offering an all-inclusive bundle. Every eight or 10 tables booked unlocks a reward.

Anna
Bride-to-be
Of course, finances are the most practical concern. This package helps reduce a lot of the hassle for couples like us, saving us a ton of legwork. With this deal, I also feel like we can add a couple more tables.

If you book 10 tables, you can get one of nine gifts, such as 40 boxes of wedding cookies or a diamond ring or necklace valued at NT$38,000.

This magazine-quality photo booth can print 700 to 800 photos throughout the event, easily handling large guest lists. Covering 12 other services, from the gown, to the ring, pictures, and even the honeymoon, the package can save the couple hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Lai Ying-ju
Hotel marketing director
Last year when we launched a service targeting smaller table amounts, we ended up hosting over 700 wedding banquets. With the introduction of this upgraded package this year, we’re targeting another 1,500 bookings.

Tsai Hui-ju
Hotel marketing associate
Couples today care less about how grand the banquet is, and more about refinement and personal style. We’re therefore putting greater emphasis on customization and one-stop services, which could bring around 10 to 15% revenue growth to our hotel.

Looking to capitalize on government policies encouraging childbirth and extending marriage leave, hotels are competing fiercely to attract discerning couples looking for somewhere to spend their special day.

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#wedding #marriageleave #hotels #weddingbanquet #newlywed #deal

2026-09-25

Soochow University unveils AI center powered by Nvidia H200

As Taiwan pushes its technology industry, universities are incorporating AI into their research and curricula. Soochow University recently launched a new AI center, featuring an AI avatar of its president and a data center equipped with a Nvidia H200-powered server. The center gives students powerful computing resources to build cross-disciplinary skills.

An AI avatar of the Soochow University president smiles on screen, answering questions about the school. This is part of the university’s new AI center.

Huang Hsin-yi
Computer science department director
It can be used for promotional purposes and campus tours, and even as a teaching assistant for professors. Students can also use it when working on projects.

The avatar can respond to questions in real-time thanks to AI computing power.

Yang Ssu-min
FTV reporter
To enhance humanities students’ competitiveness, Soochow University alumni sponsored an Nvidia H200 server with better computing power, giving students more chances to use AI in their studies.

This server powered by Nvidia H200 GPUs, valued at over NT$10 million, supports the president’s AI avatar and is great for large-language models. The university plans to make AI available to students across departments to support their research and studies.

Jan Chyan-long
Soochow University president
The university will also have hundreds of the latest RTX 5090 GPUs. These can be applied to legal studies, helping search for cases and judgements, as well as exploring ethics and social environments. Students will become adept at using AI, making it easier for them to enter the workforce and giving them a career advantage.

Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang said that people who can use AI will replace those who cannot, showing AI competence is quickly becoming a necessary skill. One survey found that 75 percent of companies are willing to offer higher salaries to people with AI skills. Universities like Soochow are incorporating AI to give students a competitive edge.

#AI #artificialintelligence #Nvidia #Soochow #university #AIcenter #technology #work #job

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2026-09-25

Mid Autumn Fest meat demand has suppliers raising white flags

With the long weekend just around the corner, the market for barbecue supplies is booming! Wholesale barbecue suppliers are completely swamped. To handle the surge in orders, one business owner is turning to friends and family for help. They begin working in the early mornings until 3 or 4am and see daily revenue exceed NT$1 million. Popular items such as meat skewers or handmade meat rolls are in high demand. Even a daily output of 5,000 skewers is failing to meet demand. Despite preparing an inventory worth over NT$10 million, the rapid surge in demand is forcing suppliers to decline new orders.

Here are freshly grilled skewers with their tempting marbling and mouth-watering aroma. For just one bite, the barbecue factory is swamped with work.

Inside the cardboard boxes, the meat is sorted by type and loaded into crates in batches before being moved to the freezer. Every day the barbecue ingredients are shipped directly from the factory to wholesalers.

- Orders surged unexpectedly on the 21st, so we stopped accepting new ones. Still, there are over 100 pending orders.

Aside from the pre-orders, they have many walk-in customers who bring their freezers to stock up.

Customer
Loyal to this supplier
I’ve been coming here to buy for the Mid-Autumn Festival for years; everything is already skewered, so there’s no cleanup involved.

Tang Shih-ching
FTV reporter
What’s the best way to enjoy barbecue? In my hand, I have 20-inch barbecue meat skewers - they go through hundreds of packs daily in sales. Even inside this massive walk-in freezer, where stock is constantly being replenished, demand cannot be met.

Since August, sales have surpassed NT$10 million. However, the pace of incoming orders is much faster than the supplier’s ability to meet them, leaving them no choice but to surrender and press pause on new orders.

Yang Chien-huang
Barbecue meat supplier
Starting this week, we asked friends and family to come and help. We’ve been busy since 10am and work until 3 or 4am, since yesterday we have reached our limit. We generated over NT$1 million in sales in a single day, and much of our stock was completely wiped out.

Long-term partners and live streaming channels place orders ranging from tens of thousands to over a million. Although they secured their stock a month in advance, the unpredictable surge of large orders from individual customers is very intense.

Yang Chien-huang
Barbecue meat supplier
Every day, we prepare 5,000 meat skewers; we deliver more than 10,000 in a day. This is all handmade; there is no way to meet Mid Autumn Festival demands.

To keep costs down, suppliers stocked up on materials in advance and absorbed a portion of the price hike themselves. With production capacity hitting the 10-million-unit limit, the entire workforce is pulling all-nighters to meet the sales peak during this important season.

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#midautumnfestival #barbecue #meatskewers #bbq #meatmadness

2026-09-22

Hermes Testing Solutions debuts on OTC market

Hermes Testing Solutions made its OTC market debut on Tuesday with a record-high underwriting price of NT$2,250 per share. And it didn’t stop there. The semiconductor testing company’s shares went on a honeymoon rally, skyrocketing by 110% to close up at NT$4,730. The lucky winners in the IPO allotment are now sitting on an unrealized profit of up to NT$2.48 million. The company says it has plans to expand into advanced packaging equipment and silicon photonics testing. Let’s hear more.

Wang Tzu-chien
Hermes Testing Solutions general manager
I would like to thank all our many investors for having so much confidence in us. We expect our performance this year to be even better than last year, and next year better than this one. We’re already providing services on a small scale in silicon photonics testing, and we plan to ramp that up next year. Our advanced packaging reflow equipment is also looking good. Our main focus is two years from now, as next year our goal is to continue laying the groundwork and start seeing some returns.

Wayne Chen
President Capital Management
Aspeed Technology already broke past NT$20,000. That’s the price of a house! And still it’s hitting new highs. The market is waiting for the meeting between Trump and Xi on Thursday. If the meet eases trade tensions and companies reach deals in AI, it could be a big boost to Taiwan shares.

Hermes Testing Solutions has become the third-largest stock on the OTC market, which is led by Aspeed Technology. For the latter, it took less than seven months for shares to go from about NT$10,000 to a whopping N$20,905, becoming the first company ever to break past NT$20,000. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s stock market opened high, before surging by 900 points, hitting a record intraday high of 48,601 points. Though the gains deflated by the end of the session, the market finished at a tidy 47,800 points, a new record high closing figure.

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#shares #market #technology #hermes #aspeed

2026-09-22

AI takes hold across Taiwan: from fish farms to job banks

Over the past few years, all the buzz has been about AI and how it will impact people’s careers. Now, in Tainan, aquaculture farmers are using it to improve fish and shrimp farming, while in Taipei a senior associate director with a job bank says it’s more efficient than humans in assisting job seekers to get interviews. Experts warn that in future, people who do not adopt AI could be considered “semi-illiterate” and their pay checks will reflect this. Let’s find out more.

Xuejia District in Tainan is Taiwan’s base for fish and shrimp farming. One area stands out as particularly different from its surrounds. The greenhouses there conceal another way of fish farming in a veritable transformation of traditional fishing industries.

This is Hsu Chia-lung’s greenhouse cyclic aquaculture farm, where he manages two fish ponds and nine shrimp ponds. In recent years, Hsu has introduced automated equipment and AI-powered smart monitoring to reduce the labor burdens and operational risks of traditional fisheries.

Hsu Chia-lung
Aquaculture farmer
AI can help us with planned production. For example, with a given pond, we can use AI to analyze what target size we want to grow the fish to, when to harvest, and how to balance that with market demand and our inventory.

Chen Jou-yin
Aquaculture farmer
It’s actually very difficult for us to measure their length on-site, but AI helps us identify the average length of a shrimp, convert that length into weight, and combine that with our original stocking count.

In the fishponds of southern Taiwan, AI has become a savior in addressing labor shortages in rural areas. Meanwhile, in Taipei, job banks are also using AI to assist with matching people to jobs.

Wang Chih-lin
Job bank senior associate director
Instead of job seekers having to set their own search criteria and find matching listings—which is fairly time-consuming—our past data shows that when applying through this feature, candidates received two to three times as many interview opportunities as they did when searching manually.

AI has now become a basic skill for workplace survival, and AI-related courses in vocational training institutions are almost always fully booked.

Ms. Chiang
Student
AI is the trend for the future, so I want to upskill myself—I don’t want to be left behind by society.

Some people have benefited from AI by using it to make their work more efficient, while others have lost business and orders due to AI. Whether AI is a friend or a foe depends on your perspective. But rather than fear your job will be eliminated, you should learn ways to adopt AI and create your own irreplaceable value.

#AI #AIincareers #AIadvancements #TaiwanAI #fishfarming

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2026-09-21

Earbuds earn Guinness World Record for clearest calling

Wireless Bluetooth earbuds are an indispensable accessory these days, used not only for listening to music, but also for taking phone calls. Major manufacturers are therefore working hard to create active noise cancelation that can detect ambient sound, ensuring clear call quality, even when in a noisy KTV room. One manufacturer incorporated an AI chip to create the world’s clearest earbuds for calling, as certified by Guinness World Records. The charging case even doubles as a voice recorder that syncs with a smartphone to generate transcripts and smart summaries.

Lin Yung-chi
FTV reporter
With a tap, I can share my photo with everyone. But this isn’t a smart watch. It’s a new type of earbud.

Earbuds are getting more impressive by the year. This manufacturer’s flagship model puts the case on center stage. The user can switch functions right on this touchscreen without ever using their phone. You can even change the wallpaper to your favorite photo. Cooler still, the case doubles as a voice recorder. Just double-tap to start recording.

Once the audio files are transferred to your phone, it can generate a transcript or AI summary. But these days, people don’t just use their earbuds to listen to music. They also need to make crystal-clear calls.

- While singing at the top of our lungs, let’s test do a test. If I call my mom right now, how clear will it be?

On the other end of the line, the voice came through totally clear with no sign of singing at all. The manufacturer developed a proprietary AI chip to deliver superior noise canceling, combining eight microphones and two bone conduction sensors to isolate the speaker’s voice from ambient noise. The technology even won recognition from Guinness World Records. Sony’s latest WF-1000XM6 similarly boasts top-tier noise canceling and smart voice controls, offering about nine hours of battery life with noise canceling enabled. Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 also have active noise cancelation while incorporating real-time translation and a heart rate sensor.

Lin Ming-hui
Product manager
Overall revenue is increasing in Taiwan’s Bluetooth earbud market, although unit sales have dipped slightly. This indicates that consumers looking for Bluetooth earbuds may already be on their second or third pair, so they want more features and reliable quality.

Liao A-hui
Tech expert
Apple comes closest to brands like Sony, which prioritize audio quality and comfort. Brands like Soundcore these days are highlighting extended business uses or productivity boosts for work. Different manufacturers position their products very differently.

Consumers are looking beyond prices to seek out more smart capabilities, driving increasingly fierce competition in the high-end earbud market.

#earbuds #headphones #soundquality #callquality #GuinnessWorldRecords #noisecancelation #AI #smartgadgets #voicerecorder #3C #tech

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2026-09-21

From AI cooling to energy savings: ITRI showcases latest innovations

At the 2026 Taiwan Innotech Expo, two breakthrough technologies from the Industrial Technology Research Institute are taking center stage, targeting two of AI’s biggest challenges: cooling and energy consumption. One is a heat sink that can rapidly cool high-performance chips and recently won a Silver Award at the Edison Awards in the US. The other is a rare-earth-free EC fan motor that can cut power consumption by up to 40%, with potential applications in semiconductor fabs.

With new and exciting tech advancements popping up every day, ITRI showcased its latest innovations in AI at an exhibition that drew huge crowds eager to learn about the newest cutting-edge tech.

- ITRI’s breakthrough has doubled the power output from 800 watts, to 1,600 watts.

Among the most notable breakthroughs in green energy tech was a 3D Aluminum Microchannel Thermosyphon Heat Sink, which has broken through the limitations of regular 3D vapor chambers.

Chang Wen-hua
ITRI Green Energy and Environment Research Labs
We developed this cooling technology for Nvidia’s GPUs, ad high-performance computing chips. The heat sink is made entirely of aluminum. Costs are 40% lower than existing cooling systems.

This innovative solution can rapidly cool down high-performance computing chips. The invention won a Silver Award at this year’s Edison Awards in the US, and a company is set to be established in Q1 of 2027. Another highlight at the show was a High-Efficiency Rare-Earth-Free Electronic Commutated Fan Motor.

Wang Chien-chang
ITRI Green Energy and Environment Research Labs
The black part at the top is the rotor. Usually, the magnets are put inside there. At the bottom is an innovative driver without electrolytic capacitors or Hall-effect ICs.

It uses 40% less electricity than AC motors, and meets the IE5 energy efficiency standard. The fan motor could be installed at semiconductor plants.

Wang Chien-chang
ITRI Green Energy and Environment Research Labs
About 90% of the world’s high-performance rare earths are produced by just one country. They are a key material to make high-efficiency permanent-magnet motors. So that’s what we were trying to solve: how to achieve world-class energy efficiency without having to use rare earths.

This motor uses no rare earths at all, helping reduce supply-chain risks while positioning the technology to tap into the growing AI-driven energy-efficiency market.

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#tech #innovation #ai #rareearth #itri

2026-09-21