VIRUS DEMAND: The contract computer maker shipped 14.5 million laptops, a 99 percent increase from the first quarter and a 67 percent increase from a year earlier

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 14, 2020
By: Angelica Oung / Staff reporter

Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s biggest contract notebook computer maker, yesterday reported 57 percent annual growth in net profit in the second quarter, saying that it expects robust laptop demand to drive double-digit percentage growth in laptops shipped this year.

The company’s growth could be compromised by shortages of key components, the company said.

Net profit last quarter expanded to NT$6.25 billion (US$211.61 million) from NT$3.97 billion a year earlier. That represented quarterly growth of 142.4 percent from NT$2.58 billion. Earnings per share rose to NT$1.62, compared with NT$0.67 in the first quarter and NT$ 1.03 a year earlier.

Gross margin improved to 6.21 percent, compared with 4.85 percent in the first quarter and 4.77 percent a year earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

Talking Biz News
Date; August 12, 2020
By: Chris Roush

Chris Horton has been hired by Bloomberg News to cover the Taiwan markets.

He will start on Monday.

Horton has been writing about Asia for two decades, covering topics including news, politics, business, travel, the environment, sports and the arts.

His writing has been published in The New York Times, Nikkei Asian Review, MIT Technology Review, Quartz, Financial Times, The Atlantic, ChinaFile and Fortune China.

He was China editor at Asia Times in 2003 and editor of China Economic Review magazine in 2004. In 2005 he founded GoKunming, one of China’s largest English-language city-specific websites.    [SOURCE]

QXIC, HSMC have each hired more than 50 veteran, former TSMC employees

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/12
By: Eric Chang, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Chinese government-supported chip manufacturers have hired more than 100 experienced engineers and managers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) since last year.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Quanxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (QXIC) and Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (HSMC) have each hired more than 50 former TSMC employees, while both are also led by ex-TSMC executives. The two companies are looking to produce 14-nanometer and 12-nanometer chips.

HSMC was founded in 2017, while QXIC began in 2019 as part of Beijing’s push to become less reliant on foreign suppliers, especially as tensions between the U.S. and China have rapidly deteriorated.

TSMC has been the most high-profile target for Chinese chip companies looking to secure talent, sources told Nikkei. The Taiwanese company is a major supplier to the world’s biggest tech companies, including Apple, Qualcomm, Google, and Huawei, although due to U.S. sanctions, it will no longer be supplying chips to Huawei after Sept. 15.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/12/2020
By: Jeffrey Wu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) Mozilla, the developer of free web browser Firefox, plans to lay off approximately 250 workers, about a quarter of its workforce, and close its Taipei office as part of a corporate restructuring caused by the long-term impact of COVID-19.

The company had a restructuring plan in place for 2020 even before the COVID-19 pandemic, including investing in innovation and creating new products, Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker wrote in a blog post and in an internal message to the company's employees Tuesday (U.S. time).

But "economic conditions resulting from the global pandemic have significantly impacted our revenue. As a result, our pre-COVID-19 plan was no longer workable," Baker said.

Baker's message also cited the organization's need to adapt its finances to a post-COVID-19 world and put more focus on financially viable products.    [FULL  STORY]

HEADWINDS: Delays in the launch of new mobile phones caused by the pandemic would affect Hon Hai’s core phone manufacturing business, CFO David Huang said

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 13, 2020
By: Angelica Oung / Staff reporter

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its second-quarter financial results met the company’s expectations and forecast that third-quarter revenue would be higher than the second quarter, but lower than a year earlier.

Net profit was NT$22.88 billion (US$774.5 million) last quarter, skyrocketing 998 percent from the previous quarter and rising 34 percent from a year earlier.

That translated into earnings per share of NT$1.65, up from NT$0.15 in the first quarter and NT$1.23 a year earlier.

Second-quarter revenue was NT$1.13 trillion, a 21 percent increase from the previous quarter, but a 3 percent decline from a year earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

An Erie favorite gets back on its feet as it reopens for business

Erie Reader
Date: August 6, 2020
By: Hannah Wyman 

Bubble tea, boba, pearl milk tea. Since its opening last May, Andora's Bubble Tea Shop has successfully landed this popular Taiwanese beverage on Erie's radar. Located on the corner of State Street and North Park Row, customers are welcomed into the breezy, local-art-clad café and offered a variety of freshly brewed teas paired with their choice if tapioca, chewy jellies, or popping juice-filled boba. Yet, like many other local businesses, owners Andy and Rora Steinmetz are grappling with the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has left in its wake. 

Erie natives Andy and Rora found themselves back in the 814 after years of traveling around the country. What the two also found upon their return was a craving for boba, a drink popular in their previous home of California, that was left unmet. Thus, Erie's first bubble tea shop was conceptualized. 

"We just wanted to create a place that didn't exist for us when we were younger, a place that was just fun and modern, a place we'd want to frequent," Andy explained. "I think we've done that, being a unique cafe place…It was just a place people came and hung out, or grab drinks and walked around the park, and I guess that's what we always saw it as. Well that and making bomb boba, that's clearly the most important part, making a product we personally crave every day."

After securing their current location in the fall of 2018, the owners said that the process was pretty much a straight shot to introducing Erie to bubble tea. What followed was a montage of redesigning, rebuilding, securing equipment, finding suppliers, and hiring employees until the final unveiling of Andora's Bubble Tea Shop on 516 State St.    [FULL  STORY]

CYBERSEC 2020 marks first large cybersecurity event held in Taiwan since pandemic

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The two-day CYBERSEC 2020 conference opened on Tuesday (Aug. 11) at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, gathering over 250 cybersecurity companies from around the world to showcase the latest in products and services.

CYBERSEC is the largest and most comprehensive conference in Taiwan for cybersecurity professionals. The 2020 event marks the first large cybersecurity exhibition after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

With the theme “Resilience Matters” the event aims to highlight the versatility of cybersecurity threats as well as many solutions to safeguard business sustainability.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said, “Cybersecurity is national security,” and that cyber attacks have become more delicate, targeting important business secrets, intellectual property, and even a country's democratic system. She added that the government is pushing many projects forward to cope with the stringent challenges cybersecurity poses.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/11/2020
By: Liu Pei-cheng and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Taishin Financial Holdings Co. Ltd. announced Tuesday that it will purchase Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc. for NT$5.5 billion (US$187 million).

Taishin President Welch Lin (林維俊) made the announcement at a press conference held at 7:30 p.m. in Taipei, noting that the acquisition still requires the approval of the Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission.

In its statement, Taishin, one of major financial holding companies in Taiwan, said the deal will help the company integrate its financial business in the areas of banking, securities and insurance, and offer clients more service options.

Taishin also said it will retain all Prudential Life Insurance staff because "employees are always the most important assets."    [FULL  STORY]