The Straits Times
Date: Sep 5, 2018

TAIPEI (REUTERS) – A huge pay rise, eight free trips home a year and a heavily subsidised apartment. It was a dream job offer that a Taiwanese engineer simply could not refuse.

A veteran of Taiwan’s top-tier chipmakers, including United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), the engineer took up the offer from a Chinese state-backed chipmaker last year and now oversees a small team at a wafer foundry in eastern China.

The engineer joined a growing band of senior Taiwan professionals working in China’s booming and fast-developing semiconductor industry.

Attracting such talent from Taiwan has become a key part of an effort by China to put the industry into overdrive and reduce the country’s dependence on overseas firms for the prized chips that power everything from smartphones to military satellites.
[FULL  STORY]

This time around the leading telecom service providers are vying for the heart of school faculty

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/05
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The battle is on again for the three leading telecom companies in Taiwan as Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) announced plans to expand the NT$488 (US$15.7) unlimited 4G internet connection package deal from students-only to faculty members in the country’s educational system at all levels.

Shortly after the telecom giant made the announcement on its website, Far Eastone (遠傳) and Taiwan Mobile (台灣大哥大) followed suit with similar offers, reported CNA on Sept. 4.

For NT$488 a month, those working in Ministry of Education-registered public or private schools will be eligible to apply for the mobile phone broadband service by Chunghwa Telecom starting August 30, including formal employees and contract workers. Individuals interested will have to present crew identification cards to apply, according to the statement on its website.

An identical package deal has been launched by Far Eastone starting August 31, with the same requirements for applicants, wrote CNA.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/05
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The local consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.53 percent in August

from a year earlier due largely to an increase in the prices of tobacco, fuel and airline tickets, government statistics showed Wednesday.

However, the August CPI was 0.07 percent lower than in July but after seasonal adjustments, showed a 0.04 percent rise, according to data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The core CPI, which excludes fruits, vegetables and energy, rose 1.36 percent from a year earlier, indicating that local consumer prices grew at a stable pace, the DGBAS said.

The year-on-year CPI growth in August was lower than the 1.75 percent rise recorded in July, the DGBAS data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

RISERS: The founder of TSMC thinks the semiconductor industry is likely to outpace global GDP growth, which is forecast at 2.5% to 3%, in the next decade or two

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 06, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Driven by industry innovation, global semiconductor revenue should continue to grow at

an annual rate of between 5 and 6 percent in the next one to two decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) said in Taipei yesterday.

That means the industry would continue to outpace forecast annual global GDP growth of 2.5 to 3 percent over the next 10 to 20 years, he said.

“The world semiconductor industry’s growth will be 200 to 300 basis points faster than the world GDP growth,” Chang said in a speech, entitled “A look at semiconductor companies’ rise and fall through innovations in the semiconductor industry,” at the SEMICON Taiwan Future Starts Here show, celebrating the invention of integrated circuits by Jack Kilby 60 years ago.

Over the past 60 years, 10 major innovations have fueled the industry’s growth and benefited semiconductor companies that invested heavily in innovations, including Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, Chang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Two companies have rolled out instant noodle bowls at the incredible price of NT$248

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/04
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Instant noodles are no longer the byword for low-priced

delicacies in Taiwan as two brands battle it out in a high-end market with products set at the over-the-top price of NT$248 (US$8) a bowl.

Uni-President Enterprises Corporation (統一), one of the leading food manufacturers in Taiwan, has been testing the waters of Taiwan’s top dried precooked noodle market with the NT$248 beef noodle (滿漢御品牛肉麵) launched two years ago, reported CNA.

Over 50,000 bowls of the product have been sold since it hit the market, despite a price tag rivaling those available at five-star hotels, raking in over NT$10 million (US$322,500) in sales. The stellar figures have prompted the company to increase its availability to e-commerce platforms apart from convenience stores.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/05
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The U.S. dollar was traded at NT$30.759 at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, down NT$0.007 from the previous close.    [SOURCE]

A delegation from the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry visit Taiwan to meet with representatives of private enterprises and govt. officials 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/09/03
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A delegation of the largest trade and industry association in the Asia-Pacific visited Taiwan to promote business cooperation across the region. And the delegates took a tour Monday of one of the biggest food factories of the country.

The delegation of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) is in Taiwan until Sept. 5 to meet with representatives of private enterprises and officials of the Taiwanese government, before heading to Mongolia for a business conference.

Led by CACCI President Jemal Inaishvili and Vice President Samir Modi, the delegation visited the factory of I-Mei Foods Co. in Taoyuan on Monday morning, where the company’s chairman, Henry Kao (高志尚), received the guests in person like old friends.

The delegation first visited the exhibition center where a selection of I-Mei’s huge product range is showcased.     [FULL  STORY]