GLOBAL SLOWDOWN: The bank lowered its inflation forecast for this year to 0.87%, amid concerns about a drop in demand for oil products and raw materials

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The central bank yesterday kept its rediscount rate unchanged at 1.375 percent for the 12th

consecutive quarter, as the global economy and trade flows slow, warranting a continued accommodative monetary policy.

The bank cut its GDP growth forecast for this year from 2.13 percent to 2.06 percent, as exports and private consumption have fared poorly, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a news conference in Taipei after a quarterly board meeting.

The projection did not factor in US tariff hikes that are likely to be imposed on US$300 billion of Chinese goods if US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) fail to end the trade dispute between the two countries at the G20 summit in Japan next week, Yang said.

“Downside risks have increased, with the US-China trade talks playing a critical role in shaping the economic landscape,” Yang said.    [FULL  STORY]

US companies dominate the global IC industry, with 52 percent of the worldwide market in 2018

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – U.S. companies dominate the global integrated circuit (IC) industry, holding a 52

percent share of the total worldwide IC market in 2018. Taiwan took second place with its 16 percent share of the worldwide IC design market, according to a report published by IC Insights.

Overall, U.S.-headquartered companies show the most balance with regard to integrated device manufacturer (IDM), fabless, and total IC industry market share, with 46 percent of the IDM global market share and 68 percent of the IC design market share, according to IC Insights.

The market research institute said the total IC industry grew by 14 percent last year. Driven by a surge in DRAM and NAND flash memory IC sales in 2018, South Korean-headquartered companies registered the biggest sales increase, at 26 percent, outpacing Chinese companies by 3 percentage points last year.

South Korean and Chinese companies were the only countries to grow faster than the total IC industry (14 percent) last year. However, with the memory market expected to show a huge 30 percent drop in 2019, it is likely that South Korean companies will go from “first to worst” regarding IC sales growth compared to last year, according to the market research institute.    [FULL  STORY]

Trade war prompts Giant to roll bicycle manufacturing out of China and into Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/18
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As what started to be a trickle starts to become a flood of manufacturers shifting production away from China to Taiwan and other countries as a result of the Trump tariffs, the world's biggest bike maker Giant tells Bloomberg that "Made in China" is over.

In an interview with Bloomberg at its corporate headquarters in Taichung, Taiwan, Giant Manufacturing Co. (捷安特) Chairwoman Bonnie Tu said that her company took Trump's threats seriously in September last year and soon shut down a China-based plant. When Trump ramped the tariffs up to 25 percent in May, the company accelerated its efforts to shift most U.S. orders out of China.

Giant's factory in Taiwan now has to run double shifts in order to catch up with the relocated orders. Tu said that "the era of Made In China and supplying globally is over."

Instead, she said there is a growing trend of "moving production close to your market," as evidenced by the company's new plans for a factory in Gyongyos, Hungary and efforts to find a partner in Southeast Asia.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taipei
Date: 2019/06/18
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) TPK Holding Co., a Taiwan-listed touch panel maker, has decided to bow out of a consortium that was planning to acquire an almost 50 percent stake in Japan Display Inc. (JDI).

In a statement filed Monday with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), where TPK shares are traded, the touch panel maker said it had decided to pull out of the consortium and the JDI investment plan because of the fast changing market.

TPK said it could not disclose further details about the decision, however, because the consortium signed a non-disclosure agreement with JDI.

In April, TPK announced it would team up with China-based Harvest Tech Investment Management Co., and Cosgrove Global Ltd. and Topnotch Corp., the two Taiwanese firms company owned by the Fubon Group's Tsai family to a joint venture by investing up to US$230 million.    [FULL  STORY

The Chinese telecom giant plans to cut production in order to survive the slowdown, says company founder Ren Zhengfei

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/17
By: Judy Lo, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The founder and CEO of China’s Huawei Technologies, Ren Zhengfei (任正非),

confirmed Monday (June 17) that overseas smartphone sales have dropped 40 percent since the U.S. clampdown, reported Central News Agency.

Ren also admitted that Huawei is under tremendous pressure from the U.S. because Washington suspects the company might be secretly cooperating with China’s security agencies. This is the first time Ren has spoken explicitly about Huawei suffering from the U.S. crackdown.

Ren attended a panel discussion held at the telecom giant’s headquarters in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, on Monday. When a journalist asked him if Huawei’s overseas smartphone sales had dropped as much as 40 percent, he confirmed this was true.

“Yes,” Ren said, “it went down 40 percent.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/17
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) The central bank in Taiwan is unlikely to adjust its key interest rates at its quarterly policymaking meeting on Thursday, according to economists.

Talking with CNA over the weekend, the economists said that while the central bank is expected to maintain its interest rates at the same level for the 12th consecutive quarter this time, it may come under pressure to cut interest rates in the second half of the year.

They said such pressure may kick in if the United States Federal Reserve decides to lower its interest rates to alleviate the effects of the U.S. trade war with China.

Wu Meng-tao (吳孟道), director of the sixth research division at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), said amid growing uncertainty in the global financial markets, Taiwan's central bank is keeping a close eye on them for the moment before taking its next step.    [FULL  STORY]