TSMC starts construction of new fab in KaohsiungPRIORITY SHIFT: TSMC previously said it would build two new fabs in Kaohsiung, but earlier this month said it was postponing construction of a 7-nanometer factory Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that construction of a factory in Kaohsiung to produce 28-nanometer chips is under way, with mass production set to start in 2024. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, made the announcement after reports about the company’s capacity expansion plans in Kaohsiung. Industry insiders said that TSMC on Friday awarded the contract to build the new fab to Fu Tsu Construction Co (互助營造). The chipmaker, a major Apple Inc supplier, did not directly respond to the reports, saying only that construction had started following the completion of land grading. TSMC previously said it intended to build a

20,000 new hires leave Foxconn’s China plantReuters, TAIPEIMore than 20,000 employees at Apple Inc supplier Foxconn Technology Group’s (富士康) huge Chinese plant, mostly new hires not yet working on production lines, have left, a Foxconn source familiar with the matter said yesterday. Concerns are mounting over Apple’s ability to deliver products for the busy holiday period as the worker unrest lingers at the Zhengzhou plant, which produces the US company’s iPhone 14 models. Photo: REUTERSThe departures could complicate Foxconn’s target of resuming full production by the end of this month, after the sometimes violent unrest, the source said. Foxconn on Thursday offered 10,000 yuan (US$1,395) to protesting recruits who agreed to resign and leave the plant. Another Foxconn source familiar with the matter said some new hires had left the campus, but did not elaborate on how many.

As I live in the US, I was able to receive a Pfizer vaccine, which made me wonder about what has happened with Taiwan’s domestically manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Medigen. Due to the heated local elections, Taiwan’s COVID-19 response has repeatedly been called into question. First, to be fair, Taiwan’s COVID-19 response was the envy of the world. Objectively speaking, the efficacy of the Medigen vaccine was reported to be 84 percent better than that of the AstraZeneca vaccine. They say hindsight is 20/20, but even with 20/20 hindsight, I still find it difficult to criticize Taiwan’s COVID-19 response.

Police rescue man, arrest five people in job scam raidStaff writer, with CNA, TAOYUANA man who had been locked in a room against his will when he went for a purported job interview was rescued on Tuesday by police, who arrested five people during a raid of the building where he was being confined, the Taoyuan Precinct said on Wednesday. The search was carried out after a friend of the victim filed a report that the man had been missing since Monday, the day of the job interview, said the Taoyuan police, who pursued the matter after it was referred to them by Taipei police. Inside the apartment, police found the 28-year-old man in a locked room, where he said he was being held against his will, the precinct said, adding that five suspects of a fraud ring were arrested. Police said they also found the bank cards and passbooks of six other people, who were believed to be victims of other fraudulent schemes. He was contacted for an interview and taken to the address in Taoyuan and locked in the room, said police, who added that the man was not hurt physically.

Alleged intimidation takes place in Kao’s office in recordingsBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterRecordings yesterday emerged with apparent conversations relating to threats and intimidation allegedly being uttered by a supervisor in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Ann Kao’s (高虹安) office toward staff members. Kao, who is the party’s Hsinchu mayoral candidate in tomorrow’s election, has been involved in controversies and alleged financial improprieties connected with her legislative office. In the recordings, a supervisor at Kao’s legislative office allegedly threatens an assistant Kao fired, after the assistant requested wages owed and severance pay. Meanwhile, former TPP official Lin Guan-nian (林冠年) said he turned over computer data, audio recordings and office accounting documents, obtained from employees in Kao’s legislative office, to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Former assistants have accused Kao of wage fraud, embezzlement and illegal payroll deductions that allegedly were used to pay Kao’s personal expenditures.

They are scattered across India and fragmented into hundreds of clans, with different legends, languages and words for their gods — many, but not all follow Sarna Dharma. Salkhan Murmu, a former lawmaker and community activist who adheres to Sarna Dharma, is at the center of the protests pushing for government recognition. His message: If Sarna Dharma disappears, one of the country’s last links to its early inhabitants goes with it. ‘IDENTITY CRISIS’Some hope giving Sarna Dharma official status could stem their faith’s existential threats, ranging from migration to religious conversions. The gradual embrace of Hindu and Christian values by some indigenous tribal groups has exacerbated his concerns.

The art world’s female revolutionWoman artists are finally getting the recognition they deserve at the world’s top art museums, though non-Western artists are still under-represented. AFP, PARISIt was a relatively promising start for gender equality when London’s Royal Academy of Arts was set up in 1768, with two women artists included among its 40 founding members. “With each rehang at each of Tate’s four galleries, the gender balance improves,” said Polly Staple, head of Tate’s British Art collection. But with women increasingly welcomed into art courses from the late 20th century onwards, the tide is turning here, too. Women artists, such as Italy’s Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656) or Flemish painter Clara Peeters, were “known during their lifetime but have been erased over the centuries”, she said.

Army Colonel Hsiang Te-en, right, and retired lieutenant Shao Wei-chiang, whose faces have been digitally obscured, hold a written pledge of allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party in an undated photograph. Shao is a retired lieutenant who had until June 2019 worked as a Kinmen regional reporter for China Television. Implicated military personnel are being investigated by the Ministry of National Defense, the office said. The incident highlights the threat that Chinese intelligence operations pose to the military, the ministry said, adding that its preventive measures are effective. The ministry would also work closely with national security agencies to thwart Chinese intelligence-gathering efforts, it added.

Ceremony marks handover of new coast guard vesselStaff writer, with CNAA 1,000-tonne patrol vessel christened the Changhua (彰化), built by domestic shipbuilder CSBC Corp, was officially handed over to the Coast Guard Administration at a ceremony at the company’s shipyard in Keelung on Wednesday. The vessel is the longest and largest in Taiwan’s fleet, and can better handle large waves than earlier 1,000-tonne frigates, it said. The 1,000-tonne coast guard patrol vessel Changhua is pictured in Kaohsiung on Wednesday. The new frigate is also equipped with four high-pressure water cannons with a horizontal range of 120m, enabling coast guard officers to repel vessels in rough waters during monsoons, CSBC said. The vessel is also equipped with two security rescue boats with maximum speeds of 35 knots, which can be used to conduct rescue and anti-smuggling tasks, which improves the ability of crews to conduct law enforcement and rescue missions in Taiwan’s waters, it said.

Yuen Foong Yu joins investment scheme with NT$1.9bnBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterYuen Foong Yu Consumer Products Co (永豐餘消費品實業) has pledged to invest NT$1.9 billion (US$60.96 million) in Taiwan to expand its capacity to manufacture toilet paper, inner layers for masks and cleaning products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday. Yuen Foong Yu, a unit of YFY Inc (永豐餘控股), sells its products in Taiwan and China. The company is the largest household paper maker in Taiwan, owning the brands Mayflower, Delight and Tender. A man walks past tissue paper products at a supermarket in Taipei on Feb. 7. Yuen Foong Yu posted revenue of NT$7.39 billion in the first three quarters of this year, up from NT$7.25 billion a year earlier, while net profit fell to NT$552.48 million, from NT$832.04 million.

COP27 summit strikes historic dealAFP, SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EgyptA fraught UN climate summit yesterday wrapped up with a landmark deal on funding to help vulnerable countries cope with the devastating effects of global warming — but there was also anger over its failure to push further ambition on cutting emissions. Photo: Reuters“We have struggled for 30 years on this path, and today in Sharm el-Sheikh this journey has achieved its first positive milestone,” she told the summit. People nap during the closing plenary at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, yesterday. European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said the EU was “disappointed,” adding that more than 80 nations had backed a stronger emissions pledge. “What we have in front of us is not enough of a step forward for people and planet,” he said.

Infected voters face up to two years in prison: CECCStaff writer, with CNAPeople who vote in the local elections on Saturday despite being ordered to quarantine risk a two-year prison term or a significant fine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Friday, estimating that 50,000 to 70,000 eligible voters would have to quarantine due to COVID-19 that day. Earlier on Friday, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, told a news briefing that 50,000 to 70,000 eligible voters would be in mandatory quarantine on election day. People who have a fever or respiratory symptoms — which might be due to COVID-19 — should use designated passageways at polling stations to socially distance from other voters, he added. An earlier updated version of the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was adapted only to the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, the center added. However, with Omicron remaining dominant, also in other countries, both Moderna vaccines are more effective against the disease than earlier COVID-19 vaccines, it said.

The EVs of the future — those arriving after 2025 — could shift to sodium-ion or lithium-sulfur battery cells that could be up to two-thirds cheaper than today’s lithium-ion cells. Sodium-ion batteries do not yet store enough energy, while sulfur cells tend to corrode quickly and do not last long. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (新能源科技) has said it plans to begin producing sodium-ion cells next year. Michigan-based Amandarry and British start-up AMTE Power are developing sodium-ion batteries using sodium chloride — basically table salt — as the main cathode ingredient. Battery developers hope they can add sodium ion and lithium sulfur batteries to the range open to the auto industry.

Luxgen received 15,000 orders for its n7 sport utility vehicle 32 hours into the preorder period that began in September, and Yulon Motor Co vice president Li Chien-hui (李建輝) said that number has risen to about 25,000 since then. Yulon Motor Co chairperson Lilian Chen attends the launch of electric vehicle n7 in Taipei on Oct. 20. Photo: CNAShipments to fulfill the orders for 25,000 vehicles would begin that same quarter and continue into the first quarter of 2024, Li said. Yulon Motor has built close business ties with Hon Hai in electric vehicle development through the MIH Consortium led by the Taiwanese tech giant. While upbeat about the future of Luxgen’s electric vehicle, Lee was cautious about the domestic auto market’s near-term prospects after having stagnated for much of this year.

Election rumors run rampantWith one week remaining before the nine-in-one elections, the CEC and fact checkers are working overtime to keep disinformation at bayBy Noah Buchan / Staff ReporterDoes voting while wearing disposable gloves invalidate a ballot? From a post by that claims that only the Nauru flag was being hung from the Presidential Office. Photo courtesy of the Taiwan FactCheck CenterThe CEC says whether a person wears gloves to vote is their personal preference, and therefore legal. The Taipei Election Commission says that election officials will stand at the end of the line with a sign reads: “voting line ends” (投票排隊終點). “What kind of flag is this?” the Facebook user wrote, apparently referring to the Nauru flag.