Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Richemont Anchors Asian Network Through Dual Hubs in Hong Kong and Tokyo

    Richemont Anchors Asian Network Through Dual Hubs in Hong Kong and Tokyo

    Richemont manages its expanding Asian luxury operations through dedicated regional hubs in Hong Kong and Tokyo, supporting a global footprint of 2,369 monobrand boutiques generating 22 billion euros in revenue. Direct sales to retail clients now account for 77 per cent of total group turnover across its 23 Maisons and businesses.

    The Swiss luxury conglomerate employs more than 40,000 people across upwards of 150 international locations. Central corporate management in Geneva coordinates policy and governance across five regional headquarters, with Asia commanding two distinct reporting territories.

    Regional Footprint Across Nine Asian Markets

    From its regional Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong, Richemont directs operations across nine major territories: mainland China, Australia, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. A separate regional headquarters in Tokyo oversees the Japanese market, backed by two satellite offices in Fukagawa and Osaka.

    Western Asia and South Asian expansion run through a third regional division based in Dubai. That office coordinates commercial operations across India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa from an operations base at the Dubai Airport Free Zone.

    Direct Retail Shift and Infrastructure Targets

    The operational concentration in Hong Kong and Tokyo reflects the luxury sector’s reliance on Asian consumer demand, even as brand houses take closer control of physical distribution. Operating 2,369 monobrand boutiques allows the group to secure higher margins while managing client relationships without wholesale intermediaries.

    Richemont also reported that renewable electricity powers 97 per cent of its global operations, alongside holding Global Equal-Salary certification across its business units. Group leadership continues to focus resources on store productivity and direct boutique expansion across key metropolitan shopping districts in Greater China and Southeast Asia.

  • Carrefour Returns to India with 50,000-Square-Foot Greater Noida Flagship

    Carrefour Returns to India with 50,000-Square-Foot Greater Noida Flagship

    French grocer Carrefour opened a 50,000-square-foot flagship store in Greater Noida West, returning to the Indian market a decade after shutting down its initial operations.

    The outlet at Boulevard Walk mall stocks more than 15,000 products across fresh food, groceries and household essentials under a franchise pact with Dubai-based Apparel Group.

    Apparel Group, which manages more than 300 fashion and lifestyle stores across 50 Indian cities, will run the local stores and supply chain. The partnership combines Carrefour’s private labels and imported lines with locally sourced goods to build an omnichannel grocery network across North India.

    A Second Run at Multi-Brand Grocery

    Carrefour first set foot in India in 2010 under the government’s cash-and-carry wholesale regulations. It closed its five wholesale depots and left in 2014 after failing to secure a domestic partner to navigate foreign investment limits in multi-brand retail.

    Foreign supermarket chains have long found India difficult to penetrate because of strict ownership caps and entrenched local distributors. While Walmart shifted entirely to wholesale and e-commerce through Flipkart, Carrefour is using a regional master franchisee to shoulder real estate commitments and store-level operations.

    Scaling North India Distribution

    Apparel Group owner APPCORP Holding, led by chairman Nilesh Ved, is using the Greater Noida site as a launchpad to expand Carrefour into additional northern urban clusters.

    The joint venture will now establish dedicated supply chain hubs to support planned store openings across Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region.

  • DFI Retail Group Tests Experiential 7-Eleven Formats Across Hong Kong

    DFI Retail Group Tests Experiential 7-Eleven Formats Across Hong Kong

    DFI Retail Group rolled out two distinct format concepts across its 7-Eleven network in Hong Kong, targeting airport transit traffic and young mall shoppers.

    The deployment includes a compact food-first site under 100 square metres at Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2 and an entertainment-focused store at Kai Tak Retail Mall 3. Both formats shift floor space away from traditional packaged goods to generate higher footfall and basket values.

    Hot Food and Collectibles at Kai Tak

    At the airport location, DFI deployed its Hong Kong Taste cafe concept. The layout combines a fresh local hot-food counter, chilled ready-to-eat meals, self-checkout kiosks, and coffee counters within a compact sub-100-square-metre unit designed to compete directly with quick-service restaurants.

    The Kai Tak store focuses entirely on youth merchandise and interactive displays. Shoppers find collectible card vending machines alongside a dedicated K-pop merchandise section requiring staff assistance for access, concert light sticks, Tamagotchi devices, and miniature double-decker bus models. The branch also stocks exclusive collaboration apparel, including Gundam socks and 45th-anniversary branded merchandise, alongside an interactive mechanical keyboard sound wall.

    Yoep Man leads the format trials as chief executive officer of 7-Eleven for South China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore at DFI Retail Group.

    Asian Convenience Chains Pivot to Experience

    Convenience operators across North and Southeast Asia are redesigning store footprints to defend operating margins against rising rents and saturated packaged-goods categories. Regional competitors in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have pursued similar split strategies, turning transit units into fast hot-food hubs while transforming suburban mall branches into lifestyle destinations with licensed character goods. DFI’s two concepts test how far a traditional convenience banner can push into quick-service dining and collectible retail within dense commercial districts.

    DFI Retail Group plans to present operational insights and format findings from the Hong Kong pilot during the NACS retail conference taking place from October 6 to October 9.

  • Weak Peso Pushes Philippine Supermarkets Toward Cheaper Stock

    Weak Peso Pushes Philippine Supermarkets Toward Cheaper Stock

    Philippine manufacturers and retailers face severe cost pressures after the peso slid past 62 per US dollar. The slump drives up import expenses for raw materials, machinery, and store inventory.

    The currency touched an all-time low of 62.265 against the greenback on August 28. That drop amplified imported inflation after domestic headline inflation reached 6.2 percent in July.

    Warnings from the Federation of Philippine Industries indicate that higher landed input costs will cascade through wholesale channels onto retail shelves. Raw materials, intermediate goods, capital equipment, and mineral fuels make up more than 85 percent of total Philippine imports, according to government trade data. Domestic producers must spend more pesos to secure ingredients and packaging. At the same time, higher diesel and electricity charges lift distribution expenses across store networks.

    Supermarket Shelves and Downgraded Goods

    Consumer goods companies also face steeper capital expenditure hurdles. Machinery and equipment account for nearly 28 percent of inbound shipments. Meanwhile, a 25-basis-point interest rate increase by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has pushed commercial borrowing rates higher.

    If brand owners pass cost increases to retail buyers, store operators will adapt by altering product selections. Grocers may have to stock cheaper, lower-grade alternatives to maintain transaction volumes as household budgets tighten, warned Steven Cua, president of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association.

    Retailers across Southeast Asia have confronted similar currency depreciation cycles by shrinking pack sizes and expanding private-label ranges. Remittances from overseas workers normally cushion Philippine consumer spending. However, sustained food and energy inflation threatens to cancel out those remittance gains by eroding baseline purchasing power.

    Input Clearances and Inflation Watch

    To ease cashflow strains on domestic factories, manufacturing lobbies are pressing government agencies to fast-track customs clearance for industrial inputs. Expedited releases would cut storage and port fees that accumulate during administrative delays.

    Market watchers now look to the upcoming official August inflation print. Central bank officials must decide whether further interest rate adjustments are needed to stabilise the peso.

  • Yeo’s Launches Teriyaki Canned Tuna in Malaysia Protein Push

    Yeo’s Launches Teriyaki Canned Tuna in Malaysia Protein Push

    Yeo’s added Teriyaki and Chilli Spicy canned tuna to its Malaysian packaged food lineup, claiming the country’s first teriyaki-flavoured shelf-stable tuna variant.

    The product expansion targets consumers seeking convenient high-protein meals across supermarket and hypermarket channels.

    Protein Counts on Front-of-Pack Formats

    Both seafood products arrive in standard metal cans tailored for direct consumption or quick meal preparation. Yeo’s is positioning the line alongside its recent ready-to-eat ambient poultry launches, which use retort packaging to deliver traditional Malaysian recipes without refrigeration.

    Those retort pouch releases, Boneless Chicken Curry and Boneless Chicken Rendang, package 33 grams and 24 grams of protein per pouch respectively. Yeo’s engineered the poultry line for microwave heating, printing protein counts directly on the outer packaging to court shoppers monitoring macronutrient intake.

    Shifting Away From Commodity Canning

    Packaged seafood brands across Southeast Asia traditionally sell canned fish on basic functional attributes like omega-3 content and budget affordability. That strategy leaves margins exposed to rising raw fish costs and competition from supermarket private labels.

    Flavour-forward seasonings allow ambient seafood processors to command higher unit prices. Western brands successfully recast canned seafood into premium lifestyle items through specialty sauces and design-led branding, creating a playbook Asian food manufacturers now adapt for local retail shelves.

    Category Push Across Packaged Foods

    The tuna rollout follows a broader cycle of recipe and packaging adjustments at Yeo’s. The company pushed into modern convenient cooking earlier in the year with ambient cooking pastes and unsweetened heritage teas, testing whether legacy Asian food brands can capture younger urban households.

    Retail buyers are tracking initial off-take figures for both seasoned tuna variants across Malaysian grocers as Yeo’s prepares distribution for regional convenience chains.

  • Global Food Price Index Hits Nearly Four-Year High on Sugar Surge

    Global Food Price Index Hits Nearly Four-Year High on Sugar Surge

    Global food commodity prices rose 1.9 per cent in August as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization price index reached 133.3 points, its highest level since November 2022.

    The increase leaves the benchmark 2.5 per cent higher than a year earlier, driven by broad gains across sugar, cereals, dairy, meat and vegetable oils.

    Sugar registered the steepest climb across the index, jumping 11.9 per cent month on month to 106.4 points. Lower expected sugarbeet yields in the European Union, production declines in Brazil, and weather concerns tied to El Niño in major Asian producers squeezed supply outlooks. India compounded the pressure by announcing duty-free raw sugar imports to shore up domestic availability.

    “August’s increase in global food prices is a warning that the risk premium is returning to food markets,” said Maximo Torero, chief economist at the FAO. Torero pointed to climate shocks, geopolitical tensions and trade logistics bottlenecks as factors tightening supply expectations.

    Grains and Oils Add Cost Pressure

    Cereal prices averaged 116.3 points in August, up 2.2 per cent from July to reach their highest reading since May 2024. Quotations rose for wheat, maize and rice, driven by strong buying interest, adverse weather across several production belts, and shipping disruptions from Black Sea ports in Ukraine.

    Vegetable oils rose 0.6 per cent to 196.9 points. Firm global import demand lifted palm and soy oil values, while dry conditions linked to El Niño threatened plantation yields in Southeast Asia. Rapeseed and sunflower oils softened slightly on expectations of steady harvest volumes.

    Dairy prices advanced 2.3 per cent to 119.2 points because of lower raw milk collections in Europe. Meat edged up 1 per cent to 127.9 points as hot weather slowed pig growth across European farms, though bovine meat prices dipped after Chinese import quotas intensified price competition between Brazilian and Australian cattle exporters.

    Margin Squeeze for Asian Food Retailers

    For packaged goods manufacturers and supermarket operators across Asia, the August index reading signals renewed margin pressure on pantry staples. Food retailers in import-dependent hubs had spent much of the past year managing lower inventory carrying costs, but rising raw input prices for sugar, wheat and cooking oils will force pricing reviews before the fourth-quarter holiday buying cycle.

    Passing higher wholesale costs directly to consumers remains difficult in markets where household budgets are already stretched by utility and transport expenses. Retailers face a choice between absorbing lower gross margins on staple categories or relying on smaller pack sizes and promotional discounts to preserve transaction volumes.

    Supply Outlook for Regional Sourcing

    The August figure sits 16.8 per cent below the all-time high recorded in March 2022, when the outbreak of war in Ukraine disrupted agricultural trade. The latest rally shows that structural supply risks remain sensitive to localized weather and trade restrictions.

    Procurement teams are now monitoring regional harvest numbers closely after the agency cut its 2026 global cereal production forecast by 2 per cent to 2.98 billion tonnes, a harvest that would still rank as the second-largest on record.

  • Japan Retail Sales Rise 4.0% in July as Department Stores Beat Formats

    Japan Retail Sales Rise 4.0% in July as Department Stores Beat Formats

    Japan’s retail sales rose 4.0 per cent year on year in July, driven by vehicle demand and strong department store receipts. Data released on August 31 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed department stores expanded 4.3 per cent, outperforming convenience stores at 1.3 per cent and supermarkets at 0.8 per cent.

    Wholesale sales across the country climbed 9.0 per cent over the same period, pointing to steady business-to-business inventory movement alongside consumer channels.

    Autos and Machinery Lift Totals

    Gains varied sharply by product line. Motor vehicle retail jumped 16.2 per cent year on year, delivering the fastest expansion among all retail sectors tracked by METI. Machinery and equipment retail climbed 6.3 per cent, while general merchandise sales rose 3.1 per cent and medical and cosmetics retail gained 1.6 per cent. Fuel retail turnover remained flat.

    Apparel and textile retail dropped 6.6 per cent year on year. That was the steepest contraction in the survey and the only major retail category to decline in July.

    Department Stores Lean on Inbound Spend

    The gap between falling clothing sales and rising department store receipts reveals a split in consumer behavior. Department store operators historically rely on apparel for a large share of their floor space, yet their revenue expanded while domestic clothing retail contracted. Tax-free transactions, luxury goods, and jewellery purchases by foreign visitors filled the shortfall left by cautious local fashion shoppers.

    Department stores across East and Southeast Asia have navigated similar pressures, leaning into high-margin luxury concessions and tourist footfall to offset sluggish domestic volume in apparel. For Japanese operators, sustained gains now tie closely to exchange-rate levels and international passenger arrivals rather than domestic wage spending.

    METI will publish its finalized July commerce figures in mid-September, with retail watchers monitoring whether vehicle order backlogs and inbound tourist spending hold up through late summer.

  • Geely Prepares North American Push as Canadian Tariffs Drop to 6 per Cent

    Geely Prepares North American Push as Canadian Tariffs Drop to 6 per Cent

    Geely plans to enter North America under a Canadian trade arrangement permitting up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles annually at a reduced 6 per cent tariff. The agreement cuts duties from a previous 100 per cent rate, creating an entry point into the broader North American market.

    Assembly takes place at Geely’s factory in Ningbo, where production lines for its luxury electric marque Zeekr run at 99 per cent automation using artificial intelligence and robotic machinery. Zhao Chunlin, vice president of manufacturing and a former General Motors executive, oversees the plant. Zhao confirmed the group eventually aims to sell and manufacture Geely-branded vehicles in the United States.

    Exporting the Zeekr 9X

    The company is broadening its export operations across multiple regions this month. Geely begins shipments of its flagship Zeekr 9X hybrid SUV to dealerships across Europe and the Middle East. The vehicle achieves a range of 745 miles on a single charge and fueling cycle, includes automated self-parking software, and retails for approximately $70,000. That price tag is roughly half the cost of competing full-size luxury SUVs built by legacy American and European rivals.

    Automation on the Ningbo line

    High levels of factory automation allow Chinese automakers to sustain vehicle margins even when entering highly competitive export markets. Geely’s push into Canada and Europe mirrors similar export campaigns by domestic peers such as BYD and SAIC Motor, which have turned to foreign dealerships as price competition intensifies across mainland China.

    Initial shipments for Europe and the Middle East depart Chinese ports this month, while the first batch of Canadian vehicle imports will determine how quickly North American buyers adopt Chinese luxury electric models.

  • Philippine Seven Corp to Open 5,000Th 7-Eleven Store in Cebu

    Philippine Seven Corp to Open 5,000Th 7-Eleven Store in Cebu

    Philippine Seven Corp will open its 5,000th 7-Eleven store in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Dec. 3, completing an expansion of 1,000 outlets in two years.

    The convenience chain closed June with 4,650 branches nationwide after net profit climbed 3.8 per cent to 1.84 billion pesos in the first half. System-wide sales rose 15.1 per cent over the same six months, with locations opened within the period generating more than 6 per cent of total turnover.

    Franchise Split and Store Economics

    Half of the 350 outlets needed to hit the year-end target will be company-owned, with franchisees taking the remainder. The rapid buildout follows the opening of store number 4,000 in 2024, four decades after 7-Eleven entered the Philippine market.

    PSC chair Victor Paterno told reporters that unit economics improved despite rising electricity, fuel and labor expenses. Cashless checkout terminals installed across tourist destinations and higher-income districts lifted average spend by enabling credit card transactions.

    The operator is also adjusting its merchandise mix to attract younger shoppers while brushing off competition from fast-spreading hard discounters. Paterno noted that discount grocers stock minimal immediate-consumption items, leaving local convenience formats largely insulated from their price pressure.

    Next Targets in Mindanao

    Across Southeast Asia, convenience store chains are racing to build dense logistics networks outside capital cities to capture rising provincial purchasing power before regional competitors establish dominance. PSC is mirroring strategies used by convenience operators in Thailand and Indonesia, where rural expansion delivers higher sales gains than saturated tier-one metros.

    PSC plans to open approximately 600 additional stores in 2027, subject to broader macroeconomic conditions. Distribution routes will push deeper into Western Mindanao, with Zamboanga City designated as a key focal point for logistics development.

  • Singapore Attracts over 50 Consumer Brand Investments as Regional Hub

    Singapore Attracts over 50 Consumer Brand Investments as Regional Hub

    Singapore secured more than 50 new consumer company investments between 2022 and September 2025, drawing global brands seeking a regional operating base for Asia.

    Danish jeweller Pandora opened its regional headquarters in Singapore in November, adding roughly 50 corporate positions to support 62 stores and 400 retail and office staff across Asian markets.

    Headquarter hubs and flagship rollouts

    Pandora Chief Commercial Officer Massimo Basei said the Singapore hub focuses on market development, digital operations, and marketing across both mature markets like Japan and South Korea and expansion targets including India and Indonesia.

    Swiss sportswear maker On and activewear brand Alo opened flagship locations at Jewel Changi Airport and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands in July and August. South Korea’s Lotte Shopping plans to open its international headquarters in Singapore in 2026 to direct its Southeast Asian store network.

    Global consumer groups increasingly treat Singapore as an operational bridge between headquarters in Europe or the United States and fragmented retail markets across Southeast Asia. Establishing central merchandising and supply chain teams in the city reduces the risk of running decentralized Asian market entries.

    American dining brands brave high failure rates

    Food and beverage chains from North America are also expanding their footprint in the city despite intense local competition. Fast food operator Chick-fil-A opens its first Asian outlet in Singapore on 11 December, following Blue Bottle Coffee, which launched its debut local cafe on 3 April.

    Tapestry broadened its luxury label Coach into hospitality with the Coach Cafe in 2023, followed by a Coach Coffee Shop and the woodfire-focused Coach Restaurant. In grocery retail, US potato supplier Lamb Weston rolled out retail frozen fries across FairPrice, FairPrice Xtra, and FairPrice Finest stores in November.

    The expansion runs counter to tough local operating conditions. Over 60 per cent of Singapore food businesses closed within five years between January and October 2025, and 82 per cent operated without a profit, according to parliamentary figures from Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

    US chain Chipotle Mexican Grill opens its first Singapore restaurant in 2026, while Lotte prepares its international headquarters for operation the same year.

  • Central Pattana Targets 10% Footfall Growth at Central Park Mall

    Central Pattana Targets 10% Footfall Growth at Central Park Mall

    Central Pattana aims to increase foot traffic at its Central Park mall in Bangkok by 10 per cent year on year during its second year of operation.

    The retail hub inside the Dusit Central Park mixed-use development drew roughly 25 million visitors in its first twelve months after opening on Sept 4, 2025. International tourists accounted for 10 million of those visits, while retail occupancy reached 98 per cent with daily visitor counts averaging between 65,000 and 75,000 people.

    Office tenants and residents drive traffic

    Office and residential handovers will feed additional pedestrian volumes into the retail podium over the coming quarters. Central Park Offices currently records an occupancy rate above 80 per cent, with corporate tenants finishing interior fit-outs before moving staff into the tower.

    Residential transfers at The Residences at Dusit Central Park will begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, following pre-sales that reached 96 per cent. Kunayudh Dej-udom, asset director of centralwOrld and Central Park at CPN, stated that these incoming occupants will provide a built-in customer base for the property’s food, service, and lifestyle tenants.

    Bangkok’s prime retail landlords increasingly rely on integrated mega-projects to shield themselves from retail oversupply in the city centre. By embedding high-density office towers and luxury residences directly above retail concourses, developers like CPN and rival One Bangkok secure regular baseline spend before counting on discretionary tourist inflows.

    Transit links and brand launches

    CPN is positioning the mall around first-in-Thailand brand debuts, exclusive merchandise drops, and cross-cultural art installations to broaden international visitor recognition. The strategy pairs global creative partnerships with experiential retail formats to capture high-spending travellers.

    Physical access will expand with a direct pedestrian connection linking the complex to the underground MRT Silom station, scheduled for completion between late first quarter and early second quarter of 2027.

  • Viettel Wins 240 MHz Spectrum to Enter Dominican Republic

    Viettel Wins 240 MHz Spectrum to Enter Dominican Republic

    Vietnam’s Viettel secured 240 MHz of spectrum in the Dominican Republic to deploy 4G and 5G networks across the Caribbean nation. The award expands the group’s overseas operations into an 11th foreign market after international revenue rose 23.9 per cent to USD 3.34 billion in 2025.

    Telecommunications regulator INDOTEL approved the license transfer under Resolution No. 073-2026 on August 19, 2026. The 20-year allocation covers frequencies across the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz, and 3.6 GHz bands, combining low-band reach for remote regions with mid-band capacity for high-density mobile broadband.

    Terms of the Caribbean Concession

    Viettel Global, the international investment arm of the Hanoi-based group, won the airwaves in a competitive tender. The company is setting up a local operating business to construct the physical network and run consumer and enterprise digital services.

    Chairman and chief executive Tao Duc Thang said the group plans a long-term network build focused on modern infrastructure, with priority given to connecting underserved and rural communities across the country.

    Exporting the Southeast Asian Playbook

    The Caribbean venture follows an expansion strategy Viettel has used across Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The group operates across 10 overseas markets and holds the top mobile subscriber share in seven of them, sustaining nine straight years of double-digit international revenue growth.

    Viettel has 90 days from the August 19 resolution to finalize and sign the concession agreement with INDOTEL before breaking ground on network infrastructure.

  • Del Monte Partners with Riverking to Expand Fresh-Cut Fruit in China

    Del Monte Partners with Riverking to Expand Fresh-Cut Fruit in China

    Del Monte Corp. Has formed a joint venture with Shanghai-based Riverking to sell fresh-cut fruit across China, targeting an Asian business that generated 9 per cent of its sales.

    The partnership, signed through Hong Kong subsidiary Del Monte Fresh Produce (HK), links the New York-listed group with Riverking’s network of 11 distribution centres across mainland China.

    Riverking was founded in 2003 and handles supply chains spanning cultivation, sourcing, harvesting and cold-chain distribution. Outside mainland China, the Shanghai firm operates international offices in Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, North America and South America.

    Distribution Across Eleven Hubs

    Fresh and value-added items delivered $2.62bn of Del Monte’s $4.32bn total revenue last year, while bananas contributed $1.49bn. The group, which changed its corporate name from Fresh Del Monte Produce in June, relies on third-party distributors across China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

    Up to now, South Korea housed the company’s only dedicated fresh-cut processing facility in East Asia. Partnering with an established domestic handler in Shanghai gives the brand immediate cold-storage reach into Chinese supermarket shelves without building out an entire standalone logistics fleet from scratch.

    Portfolio Realignment After Asset Deals

    The China agreement follows several portfolio shifts by Del Monte over the past year. In January, the group purchased vegetable, tomato and refrigerated fruit lines from California-based Del Monte Foods in a US bankruptcy transaction, after buying a majority stake in Ugandan avocado oil producer Avolio.

    Competitors in China’s packaged produce sector face high spoilage risks and fragmented retail networks. For Del Monte, the next metric to watch is whether Riverking’s 11 regional hubs can lift Asian sales above their current 9 per cent share of total revenue.

  • Chunghwa Telecom and Askey Deploy Mobile 5G for Construction Robots

    Chunghwa Telecom and Askey Deploy Mobile 5G for Construction Robots

    Chunghwa Telecom and Askey Computer rolled out a portable private 5G platform in Kaohsiung. The network runs autonomous construction robots across local social housing developments.

    Field trials are underway at two municipal residential sites, Shanming Anju and Shuixiu Anju in the city’s Siaogang District. Developed alongside robotics specialist ROSO, the setup pairs Chunghwa’s dedicated 5G spectrum with Askey’s relocatable network hardware. It controls multiple machines simultaneously.

    Mobile infrastructure for hazardous site work

    Standard job sites depend on fixed network wiring that crews build and tear down as phases advance. By contrast, the portable unit moves directly between active zones. It maintains continuous, low-latency links for field machinery without fixed cabling.

    Robots handle high-risk, repetitive tasks including surface grinding and chemical spraying. Moving heavy finishing work to automated systems cuts worker exposure to fine dust, toxic fumes, and physical strain during structural fit-outs.

    Pushing private networks past factory floors

    Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs funded the initiative through its Industrial Development Administration to expand private 5G beyond manufacturing plants and smart warehouses. Across East Asia, telecom operators face steady pressure to monetize enterprise 5G. They are embedding dedicated networks into heavy industry, infrastructure development, and commercial real estate workflows.

    Project partners will redeploy the portable network gear across additional public housing sites in Kaohsiung as structural phases wrap up in Siaogang.

  • Japan AI Data Center Capacity to Quadruple by 2033 with $60 Billion Push

    Japan AI Data Center Capacity to Quadruple by 2033 with $60 Billion Push

    Japan will more than quadruple its artificial intelligence data center capacity over the next eight years through planned investments totaling $60 billion. The buildout aims to place the country directly behind the United States and China in compute scale while securing domestic data processing independence.

    Telecommunications giant NTT is driving a major share of that expansion, targeting 2 gigawatts of operational data center capacity by fiscal 2033. Trading houses and commercial operators are also stepping into the sector, including Itochu, which is preparing 10 facilities across Japan to capture surging commercial enterprise demand.

    Power Targets and Commercial Scale

    Data center developers across Tokyo and regional prefectures are racing to secure land and high-voltage grid connections required for high-density processing racks. Artificial intelligence workloads require substantially more electricity than legacy cloud hosting, forcing operators to structure long-term power purchase agreements before breaking ground.

    Japanese enterprises have accelerated their adoption of generative computing tools in supply chain planning, automated retail operations and customer service systems. Domestic infrastructure provides local businesses with lower latency and ensures sensitive corporate records stay within national borders under local privacy frameworks.

    Regional Competition and Sovereign Tech

    Across the wider Asia-Pacific region, rapid infrastructure development has sparked competing bids for power and municipal resources in key hubs such as Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. Japan offers investors established grid stability and transparent property regulations, countering higher real estate and construction overheads.

    The investment pipeline gives enterprise software vendors and consumer brands access to dedicated domestic processing capacity that avoids overseas routing bottlenecks. What remains to be watched is how rapidly regional utility providers can deliver grid upgrades to NTT and competing operators as initial project phases break ground toward the 2033 capacity deadline.