Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/07
By: Tsai Fan-min and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) State-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) and oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan kicked off a joint plan Wednesday to explore geothermal energy in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan.

A ceremony was held at the site of the planned Renze No. 3 Geothermal Well in Yilan to mark the beginning of the exploration plan, under which work will be undertaken to drill a total of six exploratory wells in Renze and neighboring Tuchang before June 2021, according to the two companies.

CPC Chairman Tai Chein (戴謙) said the exploration project, estimated to produce an installed capacity totaling 8 megawatts of electricity if successful, is being carried out in three stages, with the first stage involving the drilling of two 1,500 meter-deep wells at a cost of NT$130 million (US$4.23 million).

The planned wells — one of which will be a production well and the other a re-injection well — are estimated to yield an installed capacity of about 2 MW, Tai said, anticipating that the exploration will be a success.    [FULL  STORY]

Firm recognized for their work by the European Space Agency and will join an ecosystem of space tech start-ups in Luxembourg

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/11/06
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A start up from Taiwan involved in developing technology and plans for deep space missions and small satellite operations has been internationally recognized, and has announced that it will be moving headquarters from Tainan to Europe.

The Odysseus firm, founded in southern Taiwan by an exceptional team of scholars and engineers, won the Space Resources Challenge hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA).

They were recognized for their achievement on Oct. 30 in Bilbao, Spain at the ESA Inspiration Conference.

As part of their prize, the Luxembourg Space Agency awarded Odysseus 500,000 euros (US$570,000) and invited the firm to join an ecosystem of over 50 firms developing space-related technologies in Luxembourg.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/06
By: Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) launched a share buyback

program Tuesday in a bid to prop up its share prices after they plunged the previous day due to an indictment of the company by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Under the share repurchase plan, UMC, the second largest contract chipmaker in Taiwan, said, it will buy up to 300 million shares on the open market at between NT$7.55 (US$0.25) and NT$20.8 per share from Nov. 6 to Jan. 5, 2019.

UMC said it will stick with the share buyback program even if its share price falls below the range it has set.

The buyback decision was approved Monday at a UMC board meeting after the company’s shares plunged by the daily maximum 10 percent Monday to close at NT$10.75 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which ended 0.17 percent lower.

Based on Monday’s closing price, the share buyback program is expected to cost UMC about NT$3.23 billion.

With the launch of the program on Tuesday, UMC shares rebounded to close 1.40 percent higher at NT$10.90, with 209.05 million shares changing hands on the main board, while the broader market fell 0.66 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Central Bank expresses optimism over the outlook for Taiwan’s export-driven economy

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/05
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Central Bank recently laid out a list of four major risks facing the global economy for 2019 in a government publication, while it expressed optimism over the outlook for Taiwan’s export-driven economy.

In the latest issue of the Taiwan Banker, the monetary policy maker pointed out the four major risks to the world, including trade war uncertainty, higher borrowing costs following higher interest rates in the U.S., increased downside risk to China’s economy, and escalating geopolitical tensions as well as ambiguities.

The heightened trade tensions and uncertainties between the U.S. and its trading partners was named as the top risk for the next year, including a trade war with China, revision of a bilateral free trade agreement with South Korea, and NAFTA renegotiation with Mexico and Canada.

The second major risk laid out by the Central Bank is U.S. interest rate hikes which send the greenback stronger and the USD-denominated borrowing costs higher around the world, and that certain emerging economies are particularly vulnerable to the appreciation of USD and have become prey for speculators.     [FULL  STORY]

Trump Administration has not yet named eight exceptions to its Iran sanctions

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/03
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan was waiting to see whether it was one of the ‘eight jurisdictions’ expected to receive waivers to continue buy oil from Iran despite sanctions from the United States.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to reimpose measures against Iran’s energy, shipping, shipbuilding and financial sectors on November 5, but eight countries were expected to be left out, reports said Saturday.

No names had been mentioned, but Japan, South Korea, India and maybe China were expected to be included.

Taiwan’s state oil company, CPC Corporation, Taiwan, said it had not received any information about the island country’s fate, but a waiver would be positive, especially since it would help with the diversification of oil sources. Taiwan needs to import virtually all of its gas and oil from overseas.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/03
By: Chu Tse-wei and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Saturday that Taiwan is expected to report a year-on-year increase in exports for an eighth consecutive month in October because of solid global demand for tech gadgets.

The MOF said it expects to report a 4-7 percent year-on-year increase in exports for the month after the more affordable iPhone XR came on the market, which has led to higher shipments from Taiwanese suppliers to Apple Inc.

There were also three more working days in October this year than last year, which should have also boosted exporters’ outbound sales, the MOF said.

Taiwan had exports of US$29.62 billion in September, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier. It was the seventh consecutive month and 23rd in 24 months showing year-on-year growth.    [FULL  STORY]