Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/31
By: Charles Kang and Ko Lin

New Delhi, July 31 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan announced

Tuesday that it plans to invest US$6.6 billion in a petrochemical development project in India.

The announcement was made by CPC President Lee Shun-chin (李順欽) at a meeting with Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Sanjiv Singh, chairman of Indian Oil Corp., the country’s top oil refiner.

A location for the development project has yet to be decided, Lee told CNA, revealing only that it could either be Mundra Port in Gujarat or Paradip, a seaport town in the eastern state of Odisha.    [FULL  STORY]

China was the top destination for Taiwanese citizens working abroad in 2016, followed by Southeast Asian nations

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/29
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –  A recent Legislative Yuan report shows a 10 percent increase in talent outflow from 2009 to 2016, sending a disquieting signal to Taiwan government officials.

Approximately 728,000 Taiwanese citizens worked overseas in 2016, the majority of which held bachelor degrees or higher, while only 30,928 foreign professionals worked in Taiwan that same year.

Among those working abroad in 2016, China was the largest destination for outflow talent, accounting for 55.9 percent of total Taiwanese abroad, though that figure has been declining in recent years. Southeast Asian nations ranked second, housing 15.2 percent of Taiwanese professionals abroad.

The report said that the talent outflow could jeopardize Taiwan’s economic competitiveness because the majority of them are highly skilled professionals and their absence could mean less people dedicated to helping companies innovate and create any competitive edge for local industries.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/29
By: Chiu Po-sheng, Wei Shu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will increase by NT$0.3

(US$0.01) and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, this week following a hike in international crude oil prices, ending a two-week fuel price drop, Taiwan’s two major suppliers said Sunday.

State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan said that after the adjustments, which will take effect at midnight Sunday, prices at CPC gas stations nationwide will be NT$28.8 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$30.3 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$32.3 per liter for 98 unleaded.

The price of super diesel will rise to NT$26.9 per liter.

CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula made up of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/07/28
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract

chipmaker, was the No. 1 Taiwanese firm in invention patent applications in the country for the first half of this year, according to the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Meanwhile, U.S-based smartphone chip designer Qualcomm Inc. took the top spot among foreign firms in invention patent applications in Taiwan, the office said.

Under Taiwan’s patent law, patents are categorized into three groups: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, with invention patents the most important in terms of the creation of technical ideas.

Data compiled by the office showed TSMC filed 345 invention patent applications in the past six months, up 5 percent from a year earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/28
By: Chung Jung-feng and Frances Huang 

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Taiwan-based ASE Technology Holding Co., the world’s largest integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider, saw second quarter net profit soar more than 400 percent from a quarter earlier after the merger creating the new company was finalized in April.

At an investor conference held Friday, ASE Technology reported an increase in net profit for the April-June period of 447 percent from a quarter earlier and of 46 percent from a year earlier to NT$11.46 billion (US$373 million).

It posted second quarter earnings per share of NT$2.7, compared with NT$0.49 in the first quarter and NT$1.93 in the same quarter last year.

The comparisons of the new holding company’s second quarter sales and earnings were based on the consolidated sales and earnings figures for previous periods reported by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), one of the two companies involved in the merger.    [FULL  STORY]

Center will recruit 100 employees

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Online giant Yahoo announced Friday it would base its Asia

Pacific research and development center, the biggest outside the United States, in Taiwan, creating about 100 job opportunities.

Last year, Yahoo was merged into Oath Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. telecom and online group Verizon Communications.

The new product R&D center in Taiwan will help Oath replicate the successful experience of Yahoo TV Taiwan in Hong Kong and also bear responsibility for Australia and New Zealand, the Central News Agency reported.

The company has already set up a hub in Singapore and opened R&D centers in countries as diverse as Israel, India, Norway, Germany and Ireland, but the Asia Pacific center in Taiwan will be its largest venture.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/27
By: Chu Tse-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s economy has shown signs of weakening as an index gauging local economic fundamentals flashed a yellow-blue light for June, indicating sluggish growth, the National Development Council (NCD) said Friday.

In a statement, the NDC said the composite index of monitoring indicators for June fell seven points to 22, the lowest level since January, when the index stood at 20.

The seven-point fall was the steepest since August 2013, when the NDC began using the current version of the model used to calculate the index.

The fall in the index made the local economy flash a yellow-blue light, which represents a range between 17 and 22, ending a four-month streak of a green light.
[FULL  STORY]