THRILLING MOMENT: Chen Chieh-hsien hit a two-run homer, which took the final score to 7-4 and gave the Lions their first Taiwan Series win in seven years

T&aipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Uni-President Lions defeated the CTBC Brothers 7-4 to win the Taiwan Series in Game 7 at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium last night.

The Lions made an improbable comeback after trailing 3-1 in the series, but delivered in the clutch with three straight wins in the pressure-packed CPBL championship finals.

It was a sweet victory for the Lions, as it was seven years since they last won the series, and was their 10th championship title in the franchise’s history.

The result also kept alive a rumor that Taiwanese teams operated by banks and large financial corporations are cursed, as none have ever won a CPBL championship title.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/08/2020
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Taiwan based-StarLux Airlines Co. said Sunday it plans to continue the company's market expansion in North America despite the COVID-19 pandemic, confirming it has applied to the Civil Aeronautics Administration for 15 flight related routes to the region.

Those routes are between Taiwan and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Guam, Honolulu, Seattle, San Jose, Ontario, New York (JFK), New York (Newark), Washington D.C., Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Boston, said airline spokesperson Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維).

Nieh said the move represents a preparatory market deployment, but whether the plan is realized depends on the market and delivery of the planes it ordered.

If all goes well, the routes could potentially be launched in 2022, Nieh said.    [FULL  STORY]

ON COURSE: The deputy minister of economic affairs said more people in the US are urging US firms to invest in Taiwan and US officials from various parties support a deal

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between Taiwan and the US are still likely to go forward despite a change in the US presidency, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) said yesterday.

The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) under which Taiwan and the US hold formal talks has a high chance of resuming and is an important catalyst for a bilateral trade agreement, Chen said.

Chen pointed to Taiwan’s recent announcement that it would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine.Washington has long criticized Taiwan’s zero-tolerance policy for ractopamine as an impediment to trade, and as a result of this, it has not held formal talks with Taiwan through the TIFA framework since October 2016.
[FULl  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/06/2.020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Taiwan's foreign reserves at the end of October recorded a new high of over US$500 billion, with the central bank citing an increase in investment returns from its management of the portfolio as the major factor.

Central bank data showed the country's forex reserves at the end of October at US$501.24 billion, up US$1.64 billion from a month earlier and breaching the US$500 billion mark for the first time.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Henry Yen (顏輝煌), head of the bank's Foreign Exchange Department, said the bank's management of the forex reserves had boosted investment returns.

In October, Taiwan retained its place as holding the fifth largest forex reserves in the world, after China (US$3.14 trillion), Japan (US$1.31 trillion), Switzerland (US$945.5 billion), and India (517.5 billion), according to the central bank.    [FULL  STORY]

The American chipmaker's secrets were leaked to a state-backed Chinese chipmaker via a top Taiwanese manufacturer.

The Motley Fool
Date: Nov 4, 2020
By: Leo Sun

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC), the second-largest contract chipmaker in Taiwan after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, recently pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from American memory chipmaker Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU).

The U.S. Department of Justice launched the investigation two years ago when three of UMC's employees were accused of passing Micron's designs to Fujian Jinhua, a state-owned chipmaker in China. Those three employees — Stephen Chen, J.T. Ho, and Kenny Wang — previously worked at Micron's subsidiary in Taiwan.

UMC initially hired Chen as a senior VP and assigned him to oversee a DRAM project with Fujian Jinhua. Chen subsequently brought Ho and Wang (who allegedly stole the chip designs from Micron) to his division — which then passed the designs to Fujian Jinhua to create new chips.

UMC agreed to pay the DOJ a $60 million fine and cooperate with additional investigations of Fujian Jinhua. That ruling certainly tarnishes UMC's reputation, but it could be even worse news for Micron — which previously issued warnings regarding China's memory chip ambitions.
[FULL  STORY] 

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/05/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) Taiwan has contributed US$1.5 million to support economic and technical cooperation initiatives led by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, double the US$750,000 it gave last year.

The funding from Taiwan will focus particularly on members' capacity building needs and on promoting regional economic integration and inclusive and sustainable growth, the APEC Secretariat said in a statement issued from Singapore Wednesday.

The contribution was confirmed in a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed virtually by Taiwan's APEC Senior Official Bob Loong-jin Chen (陳龍錦) and APEC Secretariat Executive Director Rebecca Sta Maria.

Around US$1 million of Taiwan's contribution will go to support APEC activities in the area of human security, which includes health security and emergency preparedness, as well as energy and trade security, the statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

FORECAST: After contracting 4.05 percent this year, production value would grow to NT$19.68 trillion next year, driven by emerging technologies, the research institute said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 05, 2020
By:  Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

.The production value of Taiwan’s manufacturing sector is forecast to grow 4.75 percent annually next year, thanks to recovering demand as the global economy reopens after large-scale COVID-19-related lockdowns, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) officials said yesterday.

The rebound would follow an annual contraction of 4.05 percent this year, the institute said.

Production value next year would expand to NT$19.68 trillion (US$678.48 billion) from NT$18.79 trillion this year, the institute said.

Emerging technologies such as 5G, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things would drive the growth, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Country working to ensure all banks set up English services units by 2030

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/03
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has seen the establishment of 69 banks providing services in both Chinese and English as part of its initiative to go bilingual by 2030.

Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) officials paid inspection visits to branches of Taipei Fubon Bank and Chang Hwa Bank in Taichung of central Taiwan on Tuesday (Nov. 3) to check on the progress of the implementation of bilingual banking services. The financial regulator has conducted similar visits to four model banks in Taipei since December 2019.

The Taipei Fubon Bank Shizheng branch focuses on personal banking and wealth management business, with new immigrants, foreign visitors, and overseas Taiwanese citizens being its target clients. The Chang Hwa Bank Taichung branch deals with traditional and digital banking services and caters to foreign visitors’ currency exchange needs as it is located adjacent to schools and tourist hotspots.

Taipei Fubon Bank, in particular, has selected four branches across the nation that have introduced translation equipment capable of communicating in 40 languages, benefiting customers from non-English speaking countries. The facilities will be expanded to all of its 129 branches by 2021, according to Anue.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/03/2020
By: Flor Wang and Jeffrey Wu

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) Taiwanese computer vendor Acer Inc. was the top seller of ultra-portable laptops in the first nine months of 2020 in the domestic market, taking a market share of nearly 30 percent, a global survey found.

In the first three quarters of the year, Acer beat out Apple Inc. by about 2 percentage point in the Taiwan market for ultra-portable laptops — those that are thinner than 18 millimeters, according to the recent survey by a global research firm that asked not to be named.

On Tuesday, Acer unveiled several new products in Taiwan, such as its 14-inch Swift 5 ultra-thin & lightweight laptop lineup, a new luxury 1.2-kg Porsche Design Acer Book RS laptop, and the new Enduro series of rugged laptops and tablets.

A model displays one of Acer's new Enduro tablets at Tuesday's product launch event. CNA photo Nov. 3, 2020

The new releases are part of the company's efforts to secure a larger share of its home market amid higher demand for remote work devices, which is being driven by COVID-19 pandemic protocols.    [FULL  STORY]