BRANCHING OUT: The company needs the TV assembly business to offset a slump in the flat-panel industry, chairman Jim Hung told reporters at a factory in Tainan

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 12, 2019 – Page 12　
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in TAINAN

Innolux Corp (群創) expects TV assembly to make up 25 percent of its overall TV business revenue this year,

thanks to yield improvement and customer gains, a company executive said yesterday.

That would represent a significant increase from last year’s 8 percent contribution and a 1 percent share the previous year, when the company returned to assembling TVs.

The outlook bodes well for the LCD panelmaker as it branches out to new businesses to cope with high volatility in the flat-panel industry.

The company earlier this year established three wholly owned subsidiaries in Taiwan and China as it prepares to spin off its auto and X-ray machine display businesses.

“We have to assemble TVs to counterbalance” a slump in the flat panel industry, chairman Jim Hung (洪進揚) told reporters at Innolux’s plant in Tainan’s Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學工業園), citing the firm’s goal to reshape its business model in three years.

Seeking revenue growth would be high among the company’s priorities and manufacturing TVs would be a major strategy to reach that goal, Hung said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/10
By: Flor Wang and Chang Liang-chih

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co., Ltd. announced Monday that it will

launch a new electric scooter this summer in partnership with Taiwan Gogoro Ltd., in what will be the first collaboration between the two companies on a green vehicle.

In a short video, Yamaha said the scooter, dubbed the EC-05, was developed and will be manufactured by Gogoro but was “styled by Yamaha Japan” based on an agreement signed by the two companies in 2018.

It will be sold exclusively in Taiwan through Yamaha’s distribution network starting in August but will have access to the Gogoro Energy Network’s 1,000-plus GoStations across Taiwan to swap batteries, according to the video.

Yamaha, which has had a presence in Taiwan’s market since 1996 and enjoys annual sales of 290,000 scooters, said it hopes to provide more convenient motorbikes to consumers in Taiwan through the partnership with Gogoro.  [FULL STORY]

SOURED OUTLOOKS: It was the seventh straight month that the critical economic gauge posted a negative cyclical movement without any sign of improvement

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 11, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s exports last month fell 4.8 percent from a year earlier to US$27.72 billion, extending April’s 3.3 percent decline, as escalating US-China trade tensions cooled demand for most products and soured outlooks, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

“Firms have misgivings about doing business as uncertainty increases,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.

It is the seventh straight month that the critical economic gauge posted a negative cyclical movement without any sign of improvement, Tsai added.

The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics last month projected that exports might remain negative for the rest of the year, rather than posting fractional growth as previously forecast.    [FULL  STORY]

Officials from several ministries and institutions reviewed ‘Unmanned Traffic Management’ system in Fukushima

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/09
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A delegation of Taiwanese representatives was in Japan last week to observe tests of drone manufactured by the Japanese corporation, Terra Drone, which hopes to provide the Taiwanese government with drones for an Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system, created in partnership with the European firm Unifly.

On Friday (June 7), Taiwanese officials representing several ministries, educational institutes, and some private companies were in Fukushima, Japan to witness tests of the traffic management drones.

Among the agencies and institutions represented were the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards, and several representatives from the private sector.

The tests took place at the Fukushima Robot Test Field, and showcased the capabilities of the drones produced by Terra Drone, including real-time tracking and networking capabilities between drones, which can ensure safe traffic management.   [FULL  STORY]

MOEA announced that the three companies include an LED manufacturer, an electronic components maker, and a rubber items producer

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/08
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — Three additional Taiwanese companies operating overseas have pledged to invest a total of NT$37.6 billion (US$1.20 billion) in Taiwan to avoid the possible impact from rising trade tensions between the United States and China, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Investments pledged by the three companies, including LED back light module supplier Shian Yih Electronic Industry Co., another electronics maker and a rubber items producer, which asked not to be named, are expected to create 1,756 new jobs in the local market, the MOEA said.

The investment plans by the three firms boosted the total pledges under an MOEA’s incentive program, which aims to encourage more Taiwanese companies operating overseas to return home, to NT$369 billion so far this year.

The investments from 69 firms are estimated to create a total of more than 33,000 new jobs in Taiwan, the MOEA added.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/08
By: Chang Liang-chih and Frances Huang 

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) Car sales in Taiwan rose more than 9 percent from a month earlier on the back of increasing buying in new models launched by major brands, according to market statistics.

Data tallied by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) based on the number of cars delivered in the month showed that 37,829 cars were sold in May, up 9.1 percent from a month earlier.

The May figure was also up 6 percent from a year earlier, the data indicates.

Hotai Motor Co., the local sales agent for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., retained the title as the largest car supplier in Taiwan in May, when the company sold 12,008 units, up 0.9 percent from a month earlier and also up 26.5 percent from a year earlier.
[FULL  STORY]