Business and Finance

Terry Gou maps Hon Hai’s ‘smart’ transformation

PHASE TWO: Hon Hai said it aims to develop healthcare solutions based on big data-driven technologies, and Internet-based security solutions for other sectors

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 01, 2018
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday

Hon Hai Precision Industrial Co chairman Terry Gou yesterday shakes hands with shareholders in New Taipei City after a provisional shareholders’ meeting approved a plan to list the company’s subsidiary Foxconn Industrial Internet Co on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.  Photo: CNA

mapped out the company’s corporate transformation plan, with an initial focus on developing industrial Internet-focused technologies and then growing Internet-based “smart” healthcare and security solutions.

“The public continues to see Hon Hai as a contract electronics maker… We are transforming from a traditional hardware manufacturing firm into a company that provides platforms and solutions,” Gou told a provisional shareholders’ meeting at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城).

Shareholders approved Hon Hai’s proposal to seek an initial public offering (IPO) for its newly established subsidiary, Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd (FII, 富士康工業互聯網), on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan files claim with WTO for compensation over US solar panel tariff

After filing the claim, a 30 day period for negotiation over compensation has opened

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/31
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Tuesday Jan. 30, a filing at the World Trade Organization’s

File Photo: Workers at a solar panel factory in Ariz. U.S. Sept., 2012 (By Associated Press)

headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, showed that Taiwan had joined South Korea in lodging an official complaint with the United States over recent import tariffs introduced by the Trump administration on solar panels.

The report from Reuters says that Taiwan, as the second largest solar cell manufacturer after China, will suffer under the 30 percent tariff on solar panels.

The Trump administration made the decision in an effort to supposedly grow the domestic market, while protecting the U.S. market from being flooded by cheaper goods produced abroad (mainly in Asia).    [FULL  STORY]

HTC begins new chapter following deal with Google

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/31
By: Chiang Ming-yen, Jeffrey Wu and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) 2018 could be a decisive year in the ambition of Taiwanese smartphone and virtual reality (VR) device maker HTC Corp. to be the top business in the global VR, augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) sector, now that its financial difficulties have received a boost from a deal with U.S. tech giant Google Inc.

In a letter to company employees published Wednesday, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) said the company started its new chapter that day after its cooperation deal with Google, signed in September 2017, took effect a day earlier.

The deal “lets HTC gain strength in pursuing growth in the new technology arena, helping it to create a bright future,” Wang wrote in the letter.    [FULL  STORY]

GDP grows 3.28%, beating prediction

STOCK TURNOVER: Consumer consumption of devices, clothing, travel, as well as food and beverage sales last quarter helped to generate a positive wealth effect

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 01, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s GDP expanded 3.28 percent last quarter, beating the government’s forecast by almost 1 percentage point, as the global economy grew faster than expected, boosting demand for Taiwanese exports, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The showing helped lift full-year GDP growth to 2.84 percent, the highest in 11 quarters and 0.26 percentage points higher than the official prediction in November last year, according to the agency’s advance report.

“Recovery in advanced and emerging economies accelerated in the second half of last year and the pace has yet to show signs of a turnaround or slowdown,” DGBAS senior executive officer Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said, quoting international research bodies.

The IMF has raised its growth forecast for global trade this year from 4 percent to 4.6 percent, an adjustment that is favorable for Taiwan’s export-reliant economy, Huang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei to host Google’s largest R&D center in region

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-30

Taipei is set to become home to Google’s largest research center in the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday. The tech giant announced Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of the smartphone assets of Taiwan’s HTC for US$1.1 billion.

Google is entering its third year in the hardware business. It hopes to work with HTC to combine the best of its artificial intelligence, software and hardware resources.

Google said it hopes to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific by closing the deal with HTC. Google said Taiwan is a key innovation and engineering hub for the company. It said Taipei will become the largest engineering site for the company in the region.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s TAIFEX overtakes CME to win Global Exchange of the Year 

The exchange took home several big international awards in 2017

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/30
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) wrapped up 2017 with exceptional international awards and another record-breaking trading volume of futures contracts, which exceeded 265 million contracts in 2017 alone.

The exchange took home the “Global Exchange of the Year” at FOW in December 2017, becoming the first regional market to scoop the award after years of impressive growth and innovation, including the launch of the world’s first offshore RMB options, two RMB futures contracts (USD/CNT and USD/CNH FX futures), Nifty futures and Taiwanese dollar denominated S&P and DJIA futures, and an after-hours trading session to boost capacity and cut latency.

TAIFEX overtook Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and other major regional exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region at the first run, and then saw off its prestigious counterparts in Europe and America, including European Energy Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to clinch the top award. It is said to be the first regional exchange to make it this far.    [FULL  STORY]

Manufacturing sector flashes 7th straight ‘yellow-blue’ light

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/30
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 30 (CNA) The local manufacturing sector flashed a “yellow-blue” light in

CNA file photo

December, pointing to sluggish growth, partly because of slow season effects in the electronics industry, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said Tuesday.

A stronger Taiwan dollar against the U.S. dollar and slower growth in international crude oil prices also affected the local manufacturing sector’s operations in the month, TIER said.

It was the seventh consecutive month the local manufacturing sector has flashed a yellow-blue light, marking the longest stretch of yellow-blue signals since February 2015, TIER added.    [FULL  STORY]

Powertech upbeat on revenue outlook

EXCITED’: Growth in global NAND flash memory capacity at the end of this year would not be enough to meet rising demand, Powertech chairman D.K. Tsai said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 31, 2018 
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Memorychip packager and tester Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) yesterday gave a positive revenue growth outlook for this year after posting a net profit of NT$5.85 billion (US$200 million) for last year, the highest in seven years.

The figure represents annual growth of 21 percent from NT$4.84 billion in 2016, the company’s financial statement showed.

Earnings per share rose from NT$6.2 to NT$7.51.

Gross margin slid from 21.6 percent in 2016 to 21.3 percent last year, eroded by the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar and lower margins at its new DRAM fab in Xian, China.

The fab made up 8 percent of Powertech’s revenue, which totaled NT$59.63 billion last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s e-voting for shareholders becomes mandatory

More than 1,600 companies have to implement e-voting for shareholder meetings effective Jan. 1, 2018

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/29
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Starting from January 1, companies traded on the main board

(By Taiwan News)

and emerging stock board have to implement e-voting at the meetings of the shareholders to enable them to cast votes remotely.

The new rule will hardly cause headaches for the companies traded at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and Taipei Exchange (TPEx), as the e-voting system has been widely adopted in the country in recent years. According to the Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC), up to 1,233 companies included e-voting in the shareholder’s meetings last year, among which 56 percent were voluntary, with 2.23 million votes cast.

More than 1,600 TWSE- and TPEx-listed companies are subject to the new rule starting 2018.    [FULL  STORY]

Over 80% of firms to issue year-end bonuses: survey

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/29
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) More than 80 percent of employers in Taiwan will issue year-end bonuses, with the average bonus equivalent to 1.34 month’s-worth of salary, according to a survey released Monday by the 1111 Job Bank.

The survey found that 81.4 percent of the polled employers said they will give year-end bonuses, up almost 5 percentage points from a similar survey conducted last year, with the job bank attributing the growth to an improving local economy.

The amount of bonuses expected to be given also beat an average of 1.24 month’s-worth of wages in the 2017 survey, which the job bank said is additional evidence of a better economy.    [FULL  STORY]