Business and Finance

FSC to help relieve burden of loans in earthquake affected areas

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/13
By: Tsai Yi-chu and William Yen

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) Officials of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) met with

CNA file photo

those of the National Development Council, Central Bank of Taiwan and other financial institutions Tuesday to coordinate relief measures for easing the burden of residential loans to households impacted by the recent earthquake in Hualien.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the late hours of Feb. 6 resulted in damage and casualties in the area.

Other financial institutions invited to hold talks with the FSC included the National Treasure Administration, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Tourism Bureau, Taiwan Clearing House, Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan, Bankers Association of the Republic of China, the National Federation of Credit Co-operatives and the Non-Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China.
[FULL  STORY]

DGBAS raises GDP forecast to 2.42%

REVISION: The agency’s boss said he was optimistic that the economy will continue its ‘current course of stable expansion,’ although exports are likely to rise at a slower pace

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 14, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday raised its forecast for GDP growth this year to 2.42 percent, from the 2.29 percent increase it projected in November last year, citing a fair global economic landscape.

The revision came after the nation’s economy expanded 2.86 percent last year, DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said.

“I am optimistic that the economy will continue its current course of stable expansion” as global GDP is likely to grow faster than last year, Chu told reporters.

The uptrend bodes well for demand for semiconductor and machinery products, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Hong Kong vlogger lists 3 things the world should learn from Taiwan

Vlogger lists 3 ways Taiwan is better than Hong Kong

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/12
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Hong Kong vlogger has listed three things that she thinks

Screen capture from KaoBeiCold YouTube video.

the rest of the world could learn from Taiwan’s society, especially people in her native city.

In a video posted on Jan 25 titled “Taiwan’s 3 Major Advantages that the Whole World Should Study,” Hong Kong vlogger and college student Dida (狄達 ) lists aspects of Taiwan’s society that she has observed to be better than her native city, after living in the country for three and a half years. As of the time of publication, the video has gained over 120,000 views, 2,000 likes and 645 comments.
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Taiwan shares soar over 10% in Year of Rooster

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/12
By: Tien Yi-pin and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed more than 10 percent higher in the Year of the Rooster, largely on the back of strong foreign institutional buying for most of the year.

In the Year of the Rooster, in which trading started from Feb. 2, 2017 and ended Monday, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed up 937.14 points, or 10.3 percent, marking the second consecutive year in which the Taiex had ended up more than 10 percent on the Lunar calendar.

In the previous year — the Year of the Monkey — in which trading started Feb. 15, 2016 and ended Jan. 24, 2017, the Taiex closed up 17.18 percent.

In the Year of the Rooster, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$83 billion (US$2.84 billion)-worth of shares on the main board as foreign funds kept flowing into regional markets during most of the year.    [FULL  STORY]

ASE, SPIL shareholders approve merger deal

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/12
By: Chung Jung-feng and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) Shareholders of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) and Siliconware Precision Industries Co. (SPIL), the top two integrated circuit packaging and testing services providers in Taiwan, have approved a merger deal between the two companies.

ASE and SPIL held extraordinary shareholder meetings Monday for shareholders to vote on the merger proposal, in which the two will set up a holding company to bring the two IC firms under one corporate umbrella.

In May 2016, ASE and SPIL announced that they planned to form a holding company that will own 100 percent stakes in both of the two companies, and that the two will remain independent from each other, although their operations will continue under the same roof of the holding company.

Under the deal, ASE will use one common share in exchange for 0.5 shares of the new company, while shareholders of SPIL will receive NT$51.2 (US$1.79) in cash per share for the stakes they hold from ASE.    [FULL  STORY]

Pegatron posts best January revenue

INVENTORY-BUILDING: About 30 percent of the company’s production capacity was devoted to producing earlier-generation devices, which are believed to be iPhones

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 13, 2018
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Pegatron Corp (和碩), the second-largest assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, has reported revenue of NT$121.06 billion (US$4.1 billion) for last month, the highest January figure in the company’s history, driven by robust demand for the iPhone 8 and earlier iPhone models.

The figure represents 35.8 percent growth from NT$89.14 billion a year earlier.

On a monthly basis, revenue grew 36 percent from December last year’s NT$89.01 billion, the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.

“The strong revenue performance was fueled by Pegatron’s communications client’s inventory-building demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday,” a Pegatron investor relations official said by telephone yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai Precision Industry Chairman Terry Gou leads employees to pray for earthquake victims

Formosa News
Date: 2018/02/11

Hon Hai Precision Industry held its annual year-end party today on a somber note, with Chairman Terry Gou leading over 30,000 employees and their families in 30 seconds of silent prayer for the victims of the Hualien earthquake. Gou even invited an earthquake expert to the event in the Nangang Exhibition Center and offered to build earthquake-resistant homes for his employees.

At Hon Hai’s year-end party, Chairman Terry Gou took to the stage and led his employees and their families to pray for Hualien in a moment of silence

Terry Gou
Hon Hai Precision Industry Chairman
On the night when the Hualien earthquake occurred, aside from thinking about donating money, I also wondered why we can’t use big data and artificial intelligence to predict earthquakes earlier?    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese company Foxconn to cut 10,000 jobs in 2018 to automate production 

Some worried observers in Wisconsin express alarm at the announcement 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/11
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Innolux company (群創光電), a part of the Foxconn

File Photo: Foxconn Factory, August 2015. (By Associated Press)

corporation responsible for producing display panels, announced that it will be cutting 10,000 jobs from its workforce in Taiwan and moving to an automated production line.

The news was confirmed this week by Foxconn honorary chairman Tuan Hsin-Chien, saying that Innolux was preparing to cut its workforce by approximately 16 percent in 2018, reports the Inquirer.

At a press conference, Tuan stated that Innloux was preparing to reduce its workforce from over 60,000 down to below 50,000. The reduction in the workforce is planned to coincide with a new manufacturing system that will automate about 75 percent of the display panel production process.    [FULL  STORY]

CPC to cut fuel prices by NT$0.6 per liter

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/11
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) State-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan said Sunday it will lower gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.6 (US$0.02) per liter for the week starting at midnight Sunday, following a drop in international crude oil prices last week.

After the adjustment, prices at CPC gas stations nationwide will be NT$24.3 per liter for super diesel, NT$26.4 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$27.9 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$29.9 per liter for 98 unleaded, all record lows this year, the company said.

The decision to cut fuel prices was made in the wake of falling crude oil prices last week, which experienced their biggest drop in two months, and record high crude output in the United States, CPC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai concentrates on 8K products

CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION: Chairman Terry Gou discussed the company’s product strategy and global manufacturing network at its annual carnival for staff

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 12, 2018
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) plans to connect its supply chain partners’

Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou delivers a speech at the company’s annual employees’ carnival at the Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

industrial data within the next three years and develop 8K-resolution products to speed up the firm’s corporate transformation, chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said yesterday.

“This is the second phase of Hon Hai’s corporate transformation. The work from now to 2020 will be very important for us to completely become a big data, artificial intelligence and “smart” manufacturing company,” Gou said in his opening remark at the company’s annual carnival for employees at the Nangang Exhibition Hall.

More than 30,000 employees and their families from 32 different countries attended Hon Hai’s eight-hour carnival.    [FULL  STORY]