Bloomberg News
Date: Sep 13, 2020
By: Chris Horton and Raymond Wu

(Bloomberg) — Taiwan sits squarely in the middle of the worsening dispute between Beijing and Washington, with many of its companies operating factories in China manufacturing for American companies.

Those tensions are pushing Taiwanese companies to relocate some production back home and also redirect money to factories on their side of the strait. Taiwan’s government has helped with tax breaks and other support, and that investment has cushioned some of the blow from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since January 2019, more than NT$1.1 trillion ($38 billion) of Taiwanese investment has come back, Economic Affairs Minister Wang Mei-hua said Wednesday, with tech manufacturers including Innolux Corp., Accton Technology Corp. and Quanta Computer Inc. building new factories in Taiwan.

Supply chains for electric vehicle manufacturers including Tesla Inc., which has a factory in Shanghai, are also moving to set up in Taiwan, she told members of the American Chamber of Commerce and their Taiwanese counterparts, touting the fruits of the government’s policy to bring manufacturing and investment back.    [FULL  STORY]

Adding to its already lengthy list of components to be sourced in Taiwan for upcoming projects, MHI Vestas has concluded a purchase agreement with the Fassmer Atech Composites Taiwan Ltd. (FACT) joint venture for local supply of spinner covers and nacelle covers.

Energy Global
Date: 11 September 2020
By: Sarah Smith, Digital Editorial Assistant

Spinner covers and nacelle covers are made of a composite glassfiber material and protect the wind turbine systems from the external environment at sea, particularly valuable for often-harsh conditions off the coast of Taiwan.

These components will be used at MHI Vestas’ Changfang Phase 2, Xidao and Zhong Neng projects, adding further credibility to the world’s most ambitious localisation plan currently being delivered by MHI Vestas in Taiwan.

The spinner covers and nacelle covers will be produced for MHI Vestas’ V174 turbines at FACT’s facility in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Contracts have now been signed by MHI Vestas in Taiwan for local supply of blades, blade materials (bonding glue, resin, pultruded carbon plates), towers, switchgear, rotor hubs, hub plates, nacelle base frames, low voltage cabinets, UPS systems, PCM assembly, spinner covers and nacelle covers with further local supply chain contracts planned for 2020.
[FULL  STORY]

ECCT renews MOU with National Cheng Kung University, signs new deal with Shalun Innovation Alliance

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/11 17:26
By: Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Europe's top office promoting business in Taiwan signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Shalun Innovation Alliance (SIA) to promote sustainable green energy and smart technology in Tainan through academic and industrial collaboration.

The signing of the agreement took place on Thursday (Sept. 10) at the eighth annual Low Carbon City Conference in southern Taiwan, hosted jointly by the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) and the Tainan City Government.

The ECCT also renewed its MOU with National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) to extend their business communication partnership, joint research, expertise exchanges, student internships and employment for graduates among other collaborations.

The alliance was launched in May and is dedicated to connecting local government, businesses, and academic institutions. The idea is to boost innovation and prepare for a business landscape altered by the pandemic and extreme climate change.   [FULL  STORY]

NON-PERFORMING LOANS: While the rate for failing loans at local banks’ foreign branches doubled, the FSC is scrutinizing lending strategies and risk management

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 12, 2020
By: Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

Local banks saw the credit risk of their overseas branches worsen due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic after reporting US$400 million in potential loan losses as of Thursday, double that of a year earlier, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.

FSC rules stipulate that local banks must report possible losses of US$10 million or higher from corporate loan defaults at their overseas branches.

As the commission only received reports of a possible US$200 million in loan losses from the same period last year, banks this year seem to be encountering higher credit risks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) told a news conference in New Taipei City on Thursday.

Local banks’ overseas branches over the past few years have more aggressively participated in international syndicated loans, leading to a higher risk of bad loans, Lin said.
[FULL  STORY]

Simple Flying
Date: September 10, 2020
By: Emily Derrick

Taiwanese startup carrier Starlux Airlines has been forced to change its fleet plans due to the impact of the global pandemic. The new airline confirmed its order for 17 Airbus A350s last year. However, the manufacturing process is now behind schedule and delivery will not take place in 2021 as planned. The airline has decided to lease eight A330-900neos, which will join the fleet next year to allow operations to continue.

Starlux will lease eight Airbus A330-900neos to help grow its network. Its other aircraft have been delayed due to manufacturing issues. Photo: Airbus

Starlux Airlines can’t seem to catch a break. The airline was forced to suspend operations just two months after it first took to the skies because of the global pandemic. Now, even though it has resumed operations, its growth plans are stalling.

Starlux only had three routes when it grounded its fleet in March. It had planned to begin taking delivery of its A350s next year with ambitions to expand its network. However, as manufacturing ground to a halt due to the virus outbreak, the airline is now not expecting delivery until 2022 at the earliest.    [FULL  STORY]

State-backed HSMC, which eyes to compete with TSMC and Samsung, experiences capital chain rupture

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/10
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An ambitious semiconductor project in the central Chinese city of Wuhan with planned investment of about US$20 billion and a management team of former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) executives has been stalled amid a failure to attract more investors.

Launched in 2017, Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor (HSMC) was said to have poached TSMC senior engineers and managers by offering large financial incentives, as high as 2.5 times TSMC's total annual salary and bonus package. Techbang reported the Chinese company has been seeking to recruit TSMC engineers familiar with 7 nanometer (nm) process manufacturing since 2019.

However, Hongxin CEO Chiang Shang-yi (蔣尚義), TSMC's former Chief Operating Officer, was said to be contemplating quitting the project in June, but later the company dismissed those reports as rumors. The company is facing strong headwinds as it becomes more difficult to obtain advanced U.S. equipment for manufacturing chips amid US-China trade disputes.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/10/2020
By: Yang Shu-ching and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 10 (CNA) French supermarket giant Carrefour has permanently closed its Nangang outlet, the company's first store in Taipei, as a result of worse than expected operational performance, the company confirmed Thursday.

Carrefour's Nangang store issued a notice in late July, indicating it would temporarily halt operations on Aug. 8 due to adjustments in its business development strategy with a focus on improving operations.

However, the Nangang store's Facebook fan page disappeared Thursday, while the store profile now appears as permanently closed on Google Maps.

Carrefour confirmed the Nangang outlet has officially stopped operations on Thursday.
[FULL  STORY]

SUPPLY UNCERTAINTY: Macronix chairman Miin Wu said that China’s semiconductor industry is in its infancy, making it unlikely China will have its own supply chain by 2025

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 11, 2020
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday said that it would seek approval from the US

government to continue supplying memory chips to Huawei Technologies Co (華為), its third-largest client, as Washington is to step up curbs on the Chinese firm’s access to US technology from next month.

If unsuccessful in getting permission, Macronix said that it would stop shipping chips to Huawei from Monday next week.

There is only a slim hope of being granted approval before the US presidential elections in November, the company said.

“We will comply with all US rules and apply for permission to make the shipments,” Macronix chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) said.   [FULL  STORY]

Real e-payment transactions in July amounted to US$175.67 million, up 15.27% from June

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/09
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The number of electronic payment (e-payment) users in Taiwan is expected to break the 10 million mark in August following the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) announcement that the number of users in July reached 9,664,000.

According to FSC data, there are a total of 28 electronic payment institutions in Taiwan, including Jkopay Co Ltd, O'Pay Electronic Payment Co, Gama Pay Co Ltd, ezPay Co Ltd, PChomePay Inc, iPASS Corporation, and Chunghwa Post Co Ltd, per the Liberty Times.

Taiwan’s e-payment business is still growing, based on the data. Real e-payment transactions in July amounted to NT$5.27 billion (US$175.67 million), an increase of 15.27 percent from June and up 39.77 percent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of the number of e-payment users in Taiwan, as of the end of July, it had reached 9,664,000, up 74.05 percent in one year, an increase of 4,110,000 users.   [FULL  STORY]