Taiwan Today
Date: September 06, 2019

The Floriculture Research Center in western Taiwan’s Yunlin County creates flowers boasting better disease resistance and drought tolerance. (Staff photo/Chen Mei-ling)

Phalaenopsis Kenneth Schubert Tari-12 is found in only one place in the world: the Floriculture

Research Center in western Taiwan’s Yunlin County. Featuring delicate petals patterned in pink, red and white, the hybrid orchid is among several experimental strains set for possible commercial cultivation in around three years’ time.
 
Established by Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture, FRC opened its doors in 2001. The center hosts laboratories, greenhouses and net houses, aviary-like plots of cultivated land protected by giant meshes, where new varieties of plants are developed and reproduced at scale through tissue culture.
 
Phalaenopsis Kenneth Schubert Tari-12 already has one avowed fan: Nuttha Potapohn, part of a recent six-member study group to the center from Thailand. “I am very impressed,” she said. “It has clusters of smaller blooms and a very nice color and fragrance.”.    [FULL  STORY]

Electronics brand also launches massage chair for gamers

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese electronics brand Acer Inc. presented its open e-sports platform Planet9 in Berlin Wednesday (September 4).

The next-generation system has been described as an open community where groups of gamers can cooperate as teams.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/05
By: Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The U.S. dollar fell against the Taiwan dollar Thursday, shedding NT$0.085 to close at NT$31.280.

Turnover totaled US$978 million during the trading session.

The greenback opened at the day's high of NT$31.340, and moved to a low of NT$31.241 before rebounding.     [SOURCE]

Money Cont7rol
Date: Sep 04, 2019 

The company – which competes with the likes of HP, Dell and Lenovo in the Indian market – said it registered a growth of 32% in the first half of the year.

Taiwanese tech major Asus on September 4 said it expects to clock 60 per cent growth in consumer PC business in India during the second half of the year on the back strong demand for its gaming and thin-and-light notebooks.

The company – which competes with the likes of HP, Dell and Lenovo in the Indian market – said it registered a growth of 32% in the first half of the year.

"The consumer PC market declined by about 19 per cent (as per industry estimates) but we grew 32 per cent in the first half. We are seeing strong growth in the gaming and thin-and-light categories, and we expect our growth in the second half to be 60 percent," Asus India Business Development Manager (PC and Gaming) Arnold Su told PTI.

He added that in July-August alone, the company had seen a growth of 85 percent in business compared to the same period last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Central Bank monitoring trade surplus, currency exchange and interest rates to maintain healthy trade relationship with US

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/04
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As the trade war with China and Taiwan continues to accelerate, and the Central Bank of Taiwan adapts its policies to protect the Taiwanese economy, some in Taiwan have speculated that Taiwan may be in danger of qualifying as a currency manipulator by U.S. standards.

The Taiwan Central Bank has previously addressed these concerns, noting that they are monitoring the situation closely, and are also in close contact with relevant offices of the U.S. government which are keeping them informed on currency exchange markets, interest rates, and reasons behind any changes.

CNA reports that the U.S. Treasury Department will release a new list of currency manipulators and a watch list of potential manipulators this October. However, Taiwan Central Bank has been monitoring the situation and remains in contact with the U.S.

Although Taiwan has an inflated account surplus with the United States, which is one of the markers that may put Taiwan on the currency watch list, the Central Bank said that U.S. authorities are aware of Taiwan’s particular circumstances. The report urges Taiwan to balance trade with the U.S. across multiples industries to avoid excessive surplus and trade imbalance with the U.S.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/04
By: Liao Yu-yang and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) Preferential tariffs between Taiwan and Paraguay will officially go into effect Sept. 5, with Taiwan agreeing to remove or reduce tariffs on 31 categories of Paraguayan products, the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) said Wednesday.

In return, Paraguay has agreed to reduce tariffs on 14 categories of Taiwanese products, as a follow-up to a bilateral economic agreement between the two diplomatic allies that took effect in February 2018, the BOFT said in a statement.

The 14 categories of Taiwanese products include rice noodles, woven fabric products, knitwear and handbags, as well as a variety of iron, steel, machinery and motors.

Meanwhile, Taiwan will allow imports of up to 60,000 tons of sugar per year from Paraguay tariff-free.    [FULL  STORY]

The fleet will have four new, domestically built ships, with three to be launched in 2020

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/01
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A new fleet of oceanographic research vessels is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020, a boost to Taiwan’s ocean current research and homeland security protection.

The fleet will comprise four ships, three of which are to be delivered by early next year, including two 500-ton vessels and one 1,000-ton vessel. The new ships are domestically developed and manufactured through a collaboration between academia and industry, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology in an NT$1.6 billion project, reported CNA.

While the existing 2,000-ton vessel, “Legend” (勵進號), is operated by the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), the new ships will be managed by National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Ocean University, and National Sun Yat-sen University.

Legend is tasked with national-level research missions, and the other ships will be fitted with equipment that reflects the needs of the academic institutes, said the report. A commission will be established to help coordinate operations and resources for the fleet.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/01
By: Chang Chien-chung and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) Taiwanese semiconductor companies are expected to benefit both from

increasing demand for 5G network development worldwide as well as the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, analysts said Sunday.

As countries around the world are speeding up their 5G network development, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, is speeding up its 5-nanometer chip manufacturing process to meet growing demand, particularly from makers of 5G wireless devices, the analysts.

The company has estimated a higher-than-expected capital expenditure this year than its original estimate of between US$10 billion and US$11 billion, they said.

MediaTek Inc., the largest integrated circuit designer in Taiwan, meanwhile, also expressed optimism in the 5G market as global sales of 5G smartphones could reach 140 million in 2020.
[FULL  STORY]