Business and Finance

McKinsey launches North Asia Industrial IoT Hub in Taiwan

McKinsey & Company’s Taipei office to triple in size, launches regional IoT hub

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Albert Chang, left, speaking at press event in Taipei. (By Taiwan News)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Pre-eminent global management consulting company McKinsey & Company has expanded its presence in Taiwan, with the opening of its North Asia Industrial IoT Hub (麥肯錫北亞工業物聯網中心) in Taipei today.

The hub represents the most significant move for McKinsey Taiwan since the establishment of its Taipei branch over 30 years ago, and will help drive digital transformation across Taiwan and the region.

Industry 4.0 and proliferation of emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way that business is being done globally, and digital transformation has been identified by McKinsey as a driving force for growth in the region.

The hub will help Taiwanese companies develop strategies to implement digital transformations, and to best use emerging technologies. The hub will also draw on McKinsey’s industry-leading research and analysis of business trends.    [FULL  STORY]

Wowprime to close two brand restaurants

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) Wowprime Corp., one of Taiwan’s leading restaurant chain operators, said Friday it will shelve two of its brand restaurants by the end of this year, expecting to book one-time losses of under NT$20 million (US$648,088) due to the business closures.

Wowprime, which owns the flagship Wang Steak house chain, said it is closing the Su Food light meal restaurant chain and the Ita Pasta & Bistro chain and the loss could drag down the company’s earnings per share by about NT$0.2 for 2018.

The restaurant operator opened the Su Fu brand in 2010 and has four outlets: two in Taipei, one in Taichung and the other in Kaohsiung.

While ending the Su Fu brand, Wowprime said one outlet on Fuxing North Road in Taipei will be transformed into a new style restaurant and continue to serve customers.
[FULL  STORY]

Spectrum usage fee cut urged

EXPENSIVE  5G:Taiwan Mobile Co president James Cheng urged the regulator to amend the regulations so that telecoms could join forces and build shared networks

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s major telecoms yesterday called on the regulator to reduce the spectrum usage fee for 5G wireless networks and to extend the license duration to 20 years, to help alleviate the financial burden from costly 5G network deployment.

The call came as local telecoms are hesitant to spend a lot of money on 5G networks, because most of them are still making losses on 4G networks after a fevered bidding war in a 2013 auction inflated license fees to NT$118.65 billion (US$3.84 billion).

Fierce competition has since drained their profits.

“The investment on a 5G network is even more costly, meaning a longer time to turn a profit on the network,” Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) president Yvonne Li (李彬) told a 5G forum in Taipei yesterday arranged by the Taiwan Communications Society.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to relax tax refund rules for foreign visitors from 2019

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/12
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Christie Chen

Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) Taiwan will relax value-added tax (VAT) refund rules for foreign

CNA file photo

visitors beginning next year, in an effort to spur spending by such visitors, the Ministry of Finance’s National Taxation Bureau of Taipei announced Wednesday.

From Jan. 1, 2019, travelers who enter Taiwan on foreign passports and stay for no more than 183 days can apply for on-site small-amount VAT refunds if they spend between NT$2,000 (US$64) and NT$48,000 in a single day from the same store, according to the bureau.

The store will need to be a designated store bearing the label “We offer small-amount tax refund services.”    [FULL  STORY]

Gou’s buying bumps Hon Hai share price up

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 13, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday remained strong following media reports that chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) bought about NT$2 billion (US$64.8 million) shares last month, dealers said.

However, the gains could be short-lived as global demand for the latest iPhones is slower than expected and trade tensions between the US and China continues, they said.

The stock closed 4.1 percent higher at NT$71.20 on turnover of 52.2 million shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed.

The stock attracted strong buying soon after the market opened and its momentum continued, dealers said.    [FULL  STORY]

Canadian Technology Accelerator project launched in Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/12
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) The Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA), a project to help

(Photo courtesy of Canadian Trade Office in Taipei)

connect Canadian technology companies to the local market, launched on Wednesday in Taiwan.

Speaking during the launch ceremony in Taipei, Canada’s top envoy to Taiwan, Jordan Reeves, said the CTA project is the largest single commercial project funded by Global Affairs Canada in Taiwan to date.

“The initiative aims to make both Canada and Taiwan’s start-up and innovation ecosystems more successful,” he noted.

According to the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT), the de facto Canada embassy in the country, the CTA initiative was launched in 2009 by the Canadian government to provide Canadian companies better access to resources and contacts, allowing them to engage with local partners and grow internationally.    [FULL  STORY]

Far EasTone launches 5G auto alliance

FIELD TESTS: The autonomous vehicle project is part of the telecom’s plans to encourage uptake of the new technology, as 5G handsets are expected to be pricey

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 13, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecom operator,

Far EasTone Telecommunications Co chairman Douglas Hsu, left, and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu wave after boarding a driverless minibus in Taipei yesterday to attend a news conference to promote the company’s 5G automotive alliance.
Photo: He Yu-hua, Taipei Times

yesterday launched an alliance to offer cellular-based 5G field trials for manufacturers in the autonomous vehicle supply chain in the first half of next year at the earliest.

The formation of the alliance is part of the telecom’s broader efforts to create a 5G ecosystem to accelerate uptake of the new technology after its commercialization, the company said.

Far EasTone is the nation’s first and sole telecom participating in the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), giving it an advantage to share and offer the latest automotive applications, it said.

The company plans to offer field trials at select sites, including Shalun (沙崙) in Tainan, Linkuo (林口) in New Taipei City and Hutou Mountain Park (虎頭山園區) in Taoyuan.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s interest rates unlikely to change next year: Standard Chartered

Taiwan GDP forecast to grow by 2.5% in 2019

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Busy street in Taipei. (Image courtesy of Pxhere)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s interest rates are unlikely to change in 2019 due to uncertainty in the global economy, volatility in emerging markets, and risks associated with the U.S.-China trade war, according to British financial giant Standard Chartered.

The bank also projects Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 2.5 percent in 2019, reported CNA.

Standard Chartered’s analysis was outlined during a press event in Taipei on Dec. 10, when the bank presented their global economic outlook.

David Mann, Global Chief Economist at Standard Chartered, said the global economy faces four major risks; U.S.-China trade war, European geopolitical risks, oil price volatility, and issues associated with China’s fiscal and monetary positioning. In this regard, the bank forecasts global economic growth to continue at a slow rate next year.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan hopeful of Canadian foreign investment protection agreement

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed welcome and gratitude Tuesday after Canada said last week that it is considering signing a bilateral foreign investment protection pact.

“We will continue to engage in talks with Canada to create a better investment environment and a win-win situation for companies from both countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement came after Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland last week said her country is mulling such a pact, the first time the Canadian government had openly expressed interest in signing such deal with Taiwan.

Answering questions raised by Canadian member of parliament Mark Langley on the issue Dec. 7, Chrystia said Canada is committed to continuing to strengthen trade and investment relations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

PharmaEssentia opens new plant

EXCLUSIVE: The firm is looking to produce its drug to treat a rare type of blood cancer only in Taiwan, and has nearly obtained marketing approval from Europe

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 12, 2018
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter, in TAICHUNG

PharmaEssentia Corp (藥華醫藥) yesterday held a commencement ceremony for a new fill-and-finish facility as it forges ahead with mass production and commercialization of ropeginterferon alfa-2b (Ropeg), its biologic drug to treat polycythemia vera, a rare type of blood cancer.

The facility in the company’s EU Good Manufacturing Practice-certified manufacturing plant in Taichung’s Central Taiwan Science Park is capable of making 26,000 prefilled vials of Ropeg daily.

The vial production line is to use automated filling line machines made by Optima Pharma GmbH, a leading German supplier, to ensure protection against contamination for aseptic filling, the company said.

“The filling plant is the culmination of the company’s 15-year history and represents the final piece of the puzzle in our quest to take total control of Ropeg as its development concludes,” PharmaEssentia chairwoman Jan Ching-leou (詹青柳) said in her address.
[FULL  STORY]