Business and Finance

M&As soar as companies fight protectionism: PwC

NEW AGE: While it is wise to expand export markets, firms should also adjust their product mixes and create succession plans as executives age, PwC Taiwan said

Taipei Times
Date: May 23, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) surged 42 percent last year with the total transaction value spiking 75 percent, as firms expanded to new overseas markets to cope with global protectionism, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said yesterday.

The number of M&A deals rose from 81 to 115, while transactions increased from US$6.15 billion to US$10.74 billion, PwC Taiwan’s annual M&A report showed.

The trade dispute between the US and China drove Taiwanese firms to diversify production lines beyond China to avoid tariffs imposed by Washington on Chinese goods, Lily Wong (翁麗俐), managing director of deals services at PwC Taiwan, told a forum in Taipei.

“Risk diversification provided the catalyst for M&A activity last year and may continue to do so this year and beyond,” Wong said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan seeks to join WTO consultations between Japan and India

Japan has filed a complaint regarding India’s tariff policy governing imported ICT products

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/21
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

World Trade Organization (By Associated Press)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan has declared its interest in joining World Trade Organization (WTO) consultation talks between Japan and India regarding a dispute over information communication technology (ICT) products.

The case revolves around a complaint filed by Japan regarding India’s import duties on ICT products. Taiwan, as a party with an interest in the region’s ICT product market has requested to join the talks, according to a WTO statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Control Yuan passes corrective measure on FTC-Qualcomm settlement

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/21
By: Wang Cheng-chung, Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

File photo

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) The Control Yuan said Tuesday it has approved a proposed corrective measure on a settlement agreement reached by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S.-based chip designer Qualcomm Inc., saying the deal was inappropriate.

In a statement, the Control Yuan said the settlement agreement took the FTC only 10 months to reach, replacing an earlier decision that the commission spent two years and eight months making after an investigation that ended in the imposition of a massive fine for Qualcomm’s violation of Taiwan’s anti-trust law.

The Control Yuan added that the settlement reached by the FTC and Qualcomm in August 2018 appeared hasty and was agreed upon without transparency.

The corrective measure was proposed by Control Yuan members Wang Mei-yu and Chang Kuei-mei (仉桂美), who launched a probe into the settlement that same month.
[FULL  STORY]

CHT to market facial recognition tech

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: After adopting it for internal security use, the telecom firm’s biometric technology is now being tested by several companies in Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said it plans to commercialize its facial recognition technology this year as it considers artificial intelligence (AI)-related technologies crucial to its transformation into a technology provider.

After adopting it for internal use, the technology is now being tested at several select companies in Taiwan, the nation’s biggest telecom said.

“AI plays a crucial role in our strategic transformation. It will bring quick wins,” Chunghwa Telecom chairman Sheih Chi-mau (謝繼茂) told a media briefing.

The company’s facial recognition technology is primarily used for security control and has been deployed in the company’s Internet data centers’ entrance systems to identify clients, Sheih said.    [FULL  STORY]

Microsoft VP Nick Parker to deliver keynote speech at Computex

The senior tech executive is set to talk about innovative and intelligent edge devices, services and IoT solutions

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/05/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Microsoft executives Nick Parker and Roanne Sones. (Microsoft photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Microsoft Taiwan announced on Monday (May 20) that Corporate Vice President, Consumer and Device Sales at Microsoft, Nick Parker, will deliver a keynote speech at Computex.

He will do so at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29, at the Taipei International Convention Center. This will mark Microsoft’s 17th appearance at the annual Computex, held in Taipei from May 28 to June 1.

He will be joined on stage by two other Microsoft executives, Roanne Sones and Rodney Clark. Computex said in a statement that Parker would talk about how Microsoft and its partners were using computing power, the cloud, and AI to build increasingly intelligent edge devices and solutions.

“He will showcase a variety of Microsoft partners’ innovative intelligent edge devices, services and IoT solutions that are helping customers, across industries, transform the way they work, and grow their businesses.”    [FULL  STORY]

FAT to restore five canceled flights to get passengers home

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/20
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. (FAT), a medium-sized

CNA file photo

international carrier in Taiwan, announced Monday it will restore five flights that were originally canceled through the end of May to transport stranded passengers home.

FAT said it will fly three round-trip flights between Taoyuan and Fukushima in Japan on May 23, 26 and 30, and round-trip flights between Taipei Songshan Airport and Tianjin on May 24 and Taiyuan on May 25.

The airline hopes those flights will help bring passengers grounded in those cities back to Taiwan, FAT said.

The new schedule was made after FAT announced on May 17 without warning that it was canceling round-trips to Palawan and Boracay in the Philippines and Danang in Vietnam for the rest of May, effective the following day.    [FULL  STORY]

Export orders fall for sixth month

ELECTRONICS: The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the decline was due to an economic slowdown and inventory adjustments in the semiconductor industry

Taipei Times
Date: May 21, 20191
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Export orders for information and communications products reached record levels last month, but overall orders declined for the sixth consecutive month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Orders for information and communications products grew 3.3 percent from a year earlier to US$10.53 billion thanks to increased shipments for smartphones, notebook computers and network communication equipment, the ministry said.

However, total export orders declined 3.7 percent year-on-year to US$37.66 billion, although that exceeded the ministry’s forecast of US$36.5 billion, Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said.

The ministry attributed the decline to falling global demand due to an economic slowdown and client-side inventory adjustments in the semiconductor industry, which led to a year-on-year decline of 4.6 percent in orders for electronics to US$9.72 billion.
[FULL  STORY]

FAT’s poor flight planning to blame for cancellations: Taiwan’s CAA

Taiwan News  
Date: 2019/05/19
By:  Central News Agency

(Wikipedia photo)

Last-minute flight cancellations on May 17 by Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. (FAT), a medium-sized international carrier in Taiwan, were a result of the carrier’s poor flight planning, constrained by its aging fleet, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said Sunday.

While FAT has complained that the cancellations were necessary after it exceeded its maximum number of flight hours of 1,350 hours per month set by the CAA, the administration said it had warned the carrier back in April that its flight hours scheduled for May could break the threshold.

The CAA said it has applied flight hours control to FAT since March 2017 due to safety concerns, as the airline has an old fleet comprising eight McDonnell Douglas (MD) aircraft that have been suffering more malfunctions in recent years.

According to the CAA, four of the aircraft are more than 26 years old, with the oldest topping 28 years, which poses serious flight safety concerns.    [FULL  STORY]

FAT required to submit future flight schedules: CAA

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/19
By: Lee Hsin-yin

CNA file photo

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. (FAT), a medium-sized international carrier in Taiwan, will have to submit its flight schedules for June and July to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) in advance, in the wake of the carrier’s surprise cancellations May 17 that affected nearly 1,000 passengers, the administration said Sunday.

“FAT must submit their plan to us on Monday on condition of the maximum number of flight hours of 1,350 hours,” said Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) after an emergency meeting with FAT executives.

Chi’s comments came after the airline canceled its flights May 17 to Palawan and Boracay in the Philippines and Danang in Vietnam for the rest of May, effective the following day.

While FAT has complained that the cancellations were necessary after it exceeded its maximum number of flight hours of 1,350 hours per month set by the CAA, the administration said it had warned the carrier back in April that its flight hours scheduled for May could break the threshold.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan may bear brunt of Huawei ban

KNOCK-ON EFFECT: Analysts said the ban could extend to suppliers whose products contain US-sourced components, with the networking sector likely to be hurt worst

Taipei Times
Date: May 20, 2019
By: Chen Cheng-hui  /  Staff reporter

The US sanction on Huawei Technologies Co (華為) threatens to disrupt the Chinese company’s access to component suppliers and Taiwan’s networking sector could be affected the most, analysts said.

Huawei is the world’s largest maker of mobile base station and optical communications equipment, and the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor. It sources components from countries around the globe, including Taiwan.

However, Washington’s move last week to add Huawei and 70 of its affiliates to the US government’s “Entity List” would ban the Chinese company from procuring components and technology from US firms without US government approval.

The impact could extend to Huawei’s non-US suppliers if the company’s production was forced to shut down, analysts said.    [FULL  STORY]