Business and Finance

October jobless rate hit 17-year low

IMPROVED OUTLOOK: DGBAS said Taiwan’s GDP beat third-quarter forecasts, while the holiday season might provide jobseekers with more seasonal opportunities

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 23, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter
The nation’s unemployment rate stood at 3.75 percent last month, down 0.02 percentage points from September and the lowest level for October in 17 years, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

Firms in service sectors might also hire more staffers ahead of the holiday season next month, lending support to the job market, it said.

“The job market is better this year compared with the same time last year due to continued economic improvement,” DGBAS Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a media briefing.

Taiwan’s GDP increased by 3.11 percent in the third quarter, better than forecasts by research institutes at home and abroad, DGBAS said.    [FULL  STORY]

Asustek remains most valuable brand in Taiwan: MOEA

Asustek Computer Inc. retained its position as the most valuable brand in Taiwan in 2017

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/11/22
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 21 — PC brand Asustek Computer Inc. (華碩) retained its position as the

Model holding Asus ZenFone. (By Central News Agency)

most valuable brand in Taiwan in 2017, according to the latest brand rankings released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Tuesday.

However, the latest list shows that Asustek’s brand value fell 4 percent from a year earlier to US$1.678 billion.

The MOEA said while rising competition in the global market impacted Asustek’s brand value to some extent this year, the PC vendor remains competitive and is looking to enter the smartphone and gaming PC arenas and maintain its market visibility.

The ministry has announced the annual top 20 Taiwanese brands by value since 2003 and this year commissioned U.K-based brand consultancy firm Interband to conduct the 2017 Best Taiwan Global Brands survey.    [FULL  STORY]

Energy efficiency key to transforming global energy system: expert

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/21
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) A visiting German energy expert on Tuesday stressed the

Manfred Fischedick highlights the importance of energy efficiency in transformation of global energy system in a speech in Taipei on Tuesday.

importance of energy efficiency in the transformation of energy systems, adding that about two-thirds of primary energy is wasted globally.

Energy efficiency plays a very important role in energy transition strategy, Manfred Fischedick, vice president and director of Future Energy and Mobility Structures at German’s Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy told a forum hosed by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News.

The potential of energy efficiency is largely ignored as the global primary energy system works “a little bit like a bathtub with a leak,” Fischedick said.

“We put a lot of energy into the bathtub and at the end there are a lot of losses. We can use one third of the energy but two-thirds is lost,” he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Phison ready to stop vulture investors

STOCK ATTACK: The firm emphasized its strong revenue performance and investor structure, but said it might force short-sellers to buy back if abnormal trading worsens

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 22, 2017
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Hsinchu

Phison Electronics Corp (群聯電子), a designer of NAND flash memory controllers and modules, yesterday said it is prepared to counter a potential hostile takeover and vulture investors’ attacks on its stock price.

Phison shares have over the past three months sunk more than 20 percent to NT$330.5 yesterday, valuing the company at NT$65.11 billion (US$2.17 billion) and exposing it as vulnerable to a takeover.

“We have found abnormal trading of the company’s stock over the past months. We are worried about a possible hostile takeover or an attack by vulture investors,” Phison founding chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) told a media briefing.    [FULL  STORY]

MOEA touts increase in New Southbound Policy related investment

The China Post
Date: November 21, 2017
By: Liao Yu-yang and Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI (CNA) – The latest data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs Investment

Minister of Economic Affairs Sheng Jong-chin attends a press conference on the green economy on Nov. 16, 2017. According to the latest data, the number and value of inward and outward investments involving countries targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy saw year-on-year increases in the first 10 months of 2017. (CNA)

Commission (MOEAIC) indicates that the number and value of inward and outward investments involving countries targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy saw year-on-year increases in the first 10 months of 2017.

According to data released by the commission on Monday, there were 107 investment projects in related countries from January to October.

This figure represents a 1.5 percent increase in a number of projects for the same period of last year, while the amount invested was NT.484 billion (US.84 million), representing a 99.51 percent year-on-year increase.

Countries that saw the highest increases in investment include Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, all of which saw more than 100 percent year-on-year increases.    [FULL  STORY]

Can Taiwan be an American Gateway to Southeast Asia? The US Hopes So

Even as the US turns away from globalization, the Small Business Administration is trying to ramp up trade with Taiwan and Southeast Asia

The News Lens
Date: 2017/11/21
By: Morley J Weston

The United States’ Small Business Administration (SBA) is looking to secure more trade with Taiwan, or so said one official at a joint media interview at the American Insititute in Taiwan (AIT) last week.

Eugene Cornelius, Jr, the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade with the U.S. SBA, arrived in Taiwan to sell the idea of cooperation between American small businesses and those in Taiwan.

Cornelius said that he believed Taiwan could be a hub for international trade, as it had the skilled workforce, infrastructure and technology that was still absent in many parts of Southeast Asia.

Although U.S. withdrew from the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) earlier this year, Cornelius seemed keen to use Taiwan to keep pushing better trade relations with Southeast Asia.    [FULL  STORY]

Openfind, the first software company receives Taiwan’s Rising Star Award

Openfind Information Technology was one of 13 companies to be recognized at the 2017 Rising Star  business awards

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/20
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – At the 20th annual Rising Star Awards hosted in Taipei this

MOEA’s head of Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Wu Mingji (Left) and OpenFind’s CEO Liao Changjian (Right) (By Taiwan News)

year, Openfind Information Technology stood out as the only software company to receive the honor.

The Rising Star Awards are organized annually by the Small and Medium Enterprise Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The awards are intended to increase competitiveness among local small and medium enterprises, while providing a spotlight for foreign investors seeking partnerships with dynamic business partners in Taiwan.

Every year companies compete for the honor of receiving the Rising Star Award. This year 13 businesses received the distinction of Rising Stars among Taiwan’s small and medium enterprises.    [FULL  STORY]

October export orders up for 15th straight month

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/20
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s export orders rose year-on-year for the 15th consecutive month in October on the back of solid global demand at a time when the world economy continues to recover, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

In October, Taiwan’s export orders grew 9.2 percent from a year earlier to US$46.6 billion, topping the year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent in September, data compiled by the MOEA showed.

In the first 10 months of this year, Taiwan’s export orders totaled US$395.64 billion, up 10.0 percent from a year earlier, the data indicated.

October export orders hit a new monthly high for the country, up 1.5 percent from a month earlier, the data indicated. After seasonal adjustments, the October figure was also up 1.5 percent from September, according to the data.    [FULL  STORY]

Auto tech to drive ASE growth

RISING VOLUME: Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc aims to set up a ‘clean room’ in Singapore and add capacity to its Malaysian fab to cope with the uptrend in demand

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 21, 2017
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in SINGAPORE

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) expects revenue from its fabs in Malaysia and Singapore to grow at an annual pace of 10 percent next year to surpass US$300 million, driven primarily by rapidly growing automotive electronics demand.

The rate would be an acceleration from this year’s 8 percent increase, the world’s largest chip tester and packager said.

“Automotive electronics is the fastest-growing segment and the main driving force,” ASE Southeast Asia president Lee Kwai Mun told a media briefing on Friday.

ASE in 2013 set up a clean room in Malaysia to provide testing and packaging services for image sensors used in 360-degree cameras for cars, in response to demand from European customers, Lee said.    [FULL  STORY]

MediaTek forecast lose top-10 ranking among IC suppliers this year

The China Post
Date: November 20, 2017
By: Jackson Chang and Frances Huang

TAIPEI (CNA) – Taiwan-based integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc. (聯發科) is

MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai, right, responds reporters’ questions during a media event on Sept. 27, 2017. According to market information advisory firm IC Insights, the Taiwan-based integrated circuit designer is unlikely to maintain its place among the top 10 semiconductor suppliers for 2017 due to its expected sales decline of more than 10 percent. (CNA)

unlikely to maintain its place among the top 10 semiconductor suppliers for 2017 due to its expected sales decline of more than 10 percent, market information advisory firm IC Insights said Monday.

MediaTek, which specializes in smartphone chip design, is expected to see an annual drop of 11 percent in sales to US.9 billion this year, which will push it off the top-10 list amid stiff competition, IC Insights said in research report.

In 2016, MediaTek was ranked as the 10th largest IC supplier in the world, with sales of US.8 billion, which made up 2.4 percent the global total sales, IC Insights data showed.

However, MediaTek is facing heavy competition from the American company Qualcomm Inc. and Chinese suppliers such as Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (展訊), in an escalating price war in the China market.    [FULL  STORY]