Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/06/16
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwan’s steel sector faces a threat from China. (By Central News Agency)
TAIPEI (CNA) – Taiwan’s International Trade Commission (ITC) has found certain that Chinese steel products sold to Taiwan pose a “threat of material injury” to the local steel industry and could face punitive duties.

The ITC launched an investigation into Chinese exporters of five particular steel products — carbon cold rolled steel, stainless hot rolled steel, carbon steel plant, galvanized steel and stainless cold rolled — in April.

In a preliminary ruling released earlier this week, the ITC said it did not find the Chinese steel products to have caused material injury but did find they posed the “threat of material injury,” and anti-dumping and countervailing duties (CVD) could still be imposed if the final conclusion is the same as the preliminary ruling.

The investigation looked at steel imports from China during the period of 2015 to 2017 to figure out whether the sales caused damage to the local steel industry, the ITC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiqwan
Date: 2018/06/16
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Taiwan remained the world’s fifth largest lender in 2017 as its

net international investment position rose more than 6 percent from a year earlier, according to the country’s central bank.

The total assets held by Taiwan totaled US$1.983 trillion in 2017, up US$193.4 billion, or 10.8 percent, from a year earlier mainly due to an increase “in overseas securities investment by residents and rising foreign equity prices,” according to central bank data.

The total liabilities shouldered by Taiwan rose US$119.3 billion, or 17.5 percent, from a year earlier to US$801.8 billion in 2017.

The figures translated into a net international investment position of US$1.18 trillion in 2017, up US$74.09 billion or 6.7 percent from a year earlier.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The mobile industry has completed a key milestone in the

process toward 5G commercial networks by approving standalone 5G specifications, reports said Friday.

The achievement is seen as paving the way for the introduction of 5G commercialization, at first in the United States later this year, and next year also in other parts of the world.

At the end of last year, the international standards organization 3GPP approved “non-standalone” 5G specifications, which meant the standards still maintained close links to existing 4G systems.

This month’s standalone specifications means that developers can choose 5G systems which do not rely directly on the “old” 4G systems, reports said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/15
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang 

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Taiwan Cement Corp., one of the leading cement suppliers in Taiwan, said Friday that it is in talks with Turkish conglomerate Sanko Holding S.A. for a possible strategic partnership.

Taiwan Cement said that the possible cooperation with Sanko is aimed at the growing cement market in Turkey and that if the partnership is set up, it will be the first time for the Taiwanese manufacturer to build a springboard to the European market.

According to Taiwan Cement, Sanko owns a wide range of businesses, including cement, textiles, energy, plastic packaging, construction machinery, information technology, securities and finance, and real estate.    [FULL  STORY]

RECOVERY: The company said an improved product portfolio has helped it increase its market share in China to more than 40% and win contracts from Xiaomi and Oppo

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 16, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Hsinchu

Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it won back market share

in China as its two-year “recovery plan,” which includes an improved product portfolio, yielded early results.

The plan was initiated in summer last year, after the Hsinchu-based firm hired chief executive Rick Tsai (蔡力行) to guide the company out of the woods.

A flawed product portfolio in 2016 dealt a blow to MediaTek’s market position and financial performance last year.

“Since the middle of last year, we have seen some recovery in terms of [demand for] customer ‘design-in’ and profits,” MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) told a news conference following an annual shareholders’ meeting, meaning that more phone vendors are using MediaTek’s chips.   [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatrional
Date: 2018-06-14

Taiwan’s Cabinet on Thursday passed a plan of action for financial services development in

Taiwan.

The plan includes four major goals for creating global competitiveness in the financial field. One involves establishing an international finance management platform. Another is a plan to add a hundred more listed companies to the stock market within two years. A third encourages insurance companies to invest in domestic industries. And the fourth goal is to accept ten applications for innovative financial projects within the next three years.

Premier William Lai said Thursday that the initiative is the most complete financial development plan proposed by the government to help raise Taiwan’s competitiveness in the global financial market.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/14
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) – Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman Morris

Chang said Thursday he is upbeat about the development of the semiconductor industry, adding that he expects the sector to grow quicker than global gross domestic product (GDP) over the next 10 years.

Chang made the forecast in a speech at a luncheon hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT), his first public appearance since retiring on June 5.

Expressing optimism about the future of the semiconductor industry, Chang said the semiconductor is almost as essential as bread and potatoes and the industry will grow fairly fast.

He predicted that over the next decade, global GDP will grow at an average of about 3 percent per annum, while growth in the semiconductor sector will reach 5 percent.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/14
By: Yang Ming-chu and Ko Lin

Tokyo, June 14 (CNA) A committee established by Taiwan and Japan to jointly develop potential markets overseas met for the first time Thursday, according to a Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA) release.

The meeting, which was held in Tokyo, was attended by Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), head of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, and JTEA Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi (大橋光夫), who led delegations of business leaders from their respective countries.    [FULL  STORY]

INDUSTRY BOOM: The chipmaker is planning to roll out new products amid healthy demand, but does not yet have the capacity to produce them, CEO Miin Wu said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 15, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Hsinchu

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies read-only memory (ROM) chips to

Japan’s Nintendo Co, yesterday said it is contemplating a US$1.5 billion expansion after this year, as brisk demand is to keep its factories running at full capacity for the next few years.

The Hsinchu-based chipmaker said there are supply constraints on all of its products, including ROM, NOR flash and NAND flash memory chips, thanks to the boom in the memorychip industry.

“We believe this situation will continue for a few years, as we are to roll out new products that will consume more capacity. I believe it will last for quite a long period of time,” Macronix chairman and chief executive officer Miin Wu (吳敏求) told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.

The company is scheduled to ramp up production of new memory chips — flash memory chips for embedded multimedia card storage and 3D ROM — in the first half of next year, Wu said.    [FULL  STORY]