Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/29
By: Elaine Hou and William Yen

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) A New Southbound Policy service center is to open on Jan. 2,

according to the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTNF) Friday.

The center will provide New Southbound Policy planning and implementation, financial support, cultivation of talent, foreign cooperation, small and medium enterprise services and other information on related issues, according to the OTNF.

The center will be headed by officials Tsai Yun-chung (蔡允中) and Lo Ching-jung (羅清榮), said the OTNF.

Chief trade negotiator John Deng (鄧振中) told CNA that the main purpose of the service center will be to help solve the problems encountered by individuals and groups relating to the New Southbound Policy.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-29

Vice President Chen Chien-jen hopes Taiwan’s auto industry will push for innovation and

play a key role in the international supply chain.

The 2018 Taipei International Auto Show kicked off on Friday. The show features over 350 new models from 41 different brands around the world. Chen spoke at the opening ceremony. He said Taiwan’s auto industry possesses production prowess and flexibility.

The vice president also encouraged the industry to push for innovation.

“I hope our professionals can build upon a good foundation to take the auto industry to the next level, and make it a key link in the international supply chain. We can see from today’s auto show that the research and development of new products is the most important factor in the industry’s progress,” said Chen.

Chen said that the government will work closely with the industry to help break new ground.
[SOURCE]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-28

The government plans to set up an alliance with India to promote Taiwan’s electric cars.

That’s the word from the head of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, James Huang, on Thursday.

Huang said electric cars are a global trend and Taiwan must jump on the bandwagon. He said Taiwan should not only set up a market in India but also visit India’s local manufacturers, hold forums and procurement meetings. It is estimated that the industry will be worth at least US$150 million.

Huang said an electric vehicles alliance should be the first thing to be set up next year.

Huang said, “After more meetings and reaching a consensus, we will announce the establishment of the alliance. We hope in May we can set up a booth for our electric cars at the Taiwan Expo in India, so we must have this alliance established in the first quarter of next year.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/28
By: Taiwan Today,Agencies

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. unveiled Dec. 26 a high-performance computing system three times faster than any other supercomputer in Taiwan, underscoring the nation’s high-tech expertise and cutting-edge R&D capabilities.

The supercomputer, operating in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Software Technology Park, is capable of operating at 6 peta floating point operations per second (petaflops), equivalent to the computing power of around 5.4 million iPhone Xs, the firm said.

According to Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn Technology Group—the world’s largest contract electronics-maker whose customers include Apple Inc.—the system will have applications in a wide range of fields such as sports data analysis and animation imaging, and is poised to make significant contributions to the health care industry. The company said the supercomputer will be able to quickly analyze, compare and process a vast array of images and data from medical tests and samples.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/28
By: P.S. Chiu and Flor Wang

Taipei, Dec. 28 (CNA) The U.S. dollar fell sharply against the Taiwan dollar Thursday,

shedding NT$0.1 to close at NT$29.840 — the lowest for more than four years.

The greenback opened at the day’s high of NT$29.937 and moved to a low of NT$29.750 before rebounding. Turnover totaled US$873 million during the trading session.

“It has been a long time since the Taiwan dollar appreciated so much against the U.S. unit,” market dealers said, attributing the strong rise of the local currency to the influx of foreign capital aimed at purchasing shares in Taiwan and selling pressure from local exporters who fear that the greenback might further lose value.

The U.S. dollar dropped almost NT$0.2 against the Taiwan dollar at one point during Thursday’s session, but its losses narrowed toward the close of the trading because of strong buying by local importers.    [FULL  STORY]

GAME-LIKE: The M+ app allows users to fill red envelopes and hold prize drawings in group chats, which drew excited participation among employees during internal testing

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2017
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大)

yesterday introduced a digital red envelope feature to the M+ Messenger app, marking a first for the local market.

The new feature expands the app’s peer-to-peer payment functions and lets users send cash gifts to a single or multiple recipients, the companies said.

The transactions are limited to NT$50,000 each or a total of NT$100,000 daily, they added.

Digital red envelopes have over the past few years gained popularity in China, Fubon president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) said, adding that M+ has enhanced security, as users must register their identity and account at the lender.    [FULL  STORY]

TSMC is only Asian company in the global top-10

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (台積電), the largest contract chipmaker in the world, is the Asian company with the highest profit per employee and ranks No.9 in the world, reports said Wednesday.

According to the survey by Expert Market, TSMC made a profit of US$10.3 million (NT$308 million), which with 46,968 employees comes out at a profit of US$218,951 (NT$6.55 million) per member of staff.

The top-20 was headed by U.S. financial institution Fanny Mae, which made a profit of US$1,759,000 (NT$52.6 million) per employee.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/27
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s economy flashed a yellow-blue light in November, pointing to sluggish growth, as the economic performance index dropped from the previous month, the National Development Council (NDC) said Wednesday.

The NDC said the composite index of monitoring indicators fell one point from October to 22 in November, flashing a yellow-blue light in the 17 to 22 range.

While the domestic economy remained on the road to recovery, the slight fall in the latest economic composite index signaled a loss of momentum, the NDC said.

It was the first time in four months that index failed to flash a “green light” that pointed to steady growth in the range of 23 to 31 points, according to the NDC.    [FULL  STORY]