Business and Finance

Offshore wind farm projects a challenge

TIME-LIMITED:Projects on government-owned land are given a nine-year lease, while most financing is extended over 15 years, making private banks skeptical

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 04, 2017
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Local and foreign financial institutions and systems providers yesterday shed light on the challenges of securing financing for offshore wind farm projects in Taiwan.

While Taiwan is an attractive destination for offshore and onshore wind projects, and the government has shown its support for such development, a number of lingering challenges remain, panelists said at a renewable energy finance summit organized by the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance in Taipei.

For onshore wind farms, one of the most pressing difficulties is that projects are often built on government-owned land that comes with many limitations, said Yuni Wang (王雲怡), chairperson of Wpd Taiwan Energy Co Ltd (達德能源), the local subsidiary of German-based Wpd Group, a global renewable energy operator and developer.

“Even if projects are approved, lenders remain concerned about financing plans that could span more than 15 years, while the government’s land use approvals are extended over nine-year intervals,” Wang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Cabinet approves new chairman for CPC Corp.: MOEA

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/03
By: Huang Ya-chuan and William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) The Cabinet has approved a new chairman for state-run oil

Tai Chein (戴謙)/CNA file photo

company CPC Corp. Taiwan (中油), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said in a statement Friday.

The MOEA said 68-year-old Tai Chein (戴謙), president of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, will assume the post after the company holds a board meeting on Monday.

Economic Affairs Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Tai is no stranger to the industry as he has previously served as director of the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration and vice chairman of the National Science Council.

Tai has received many important awards in the past, including a National Top Ten Outstanding Young People Award in 1985, an Order of Agricultural Merit from France in 2006, and an award for being among the top ten outstanding private university presidents in 2017.    [FULL  STORY]

Undersupply boosts Hiwin forecasts

KEY COMPONENTS:With industry conditions likely to continue until 2019, Hiwin is taking the opportunity to expand and is considering acquiring rival machinery makers

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 04, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) has forecast its growth momentum would extend into the first quarter of next year, as the global machinery market remains undersupplied due to a shortage of key machinery components, particularly linear guideways and ball screws.

The shortage is unlikely to be solved in the near term, as components suppliers cannot meet rising demand from customers in the semiconductor and automotive industries, Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) said at an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.

“The shortage of key components is expected to be solved in 2019 at the earliest,” Chuo said.

The components shortage offers a golden opportunity for Hiwin to cement its position in Japan, Chuo said, adding that the company is likely to become the second-largest supplier of linear guideways and ball screws in that country next year.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan probing alleged fraud in Navy shipbuilder’s bank borrowing

The China Post
Date: November 3, 2017
By: Chiu Po-sheng, Ku Chuan, Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

TAIPEI (CNA) – Prosecutors are investigating whether fraud occurred when a company

Prosecutors are investigating whether fraud occurred when Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. won a multi-billion dollar contract to build minesweepers for the Navy tried and received a NT$20.5 billion loan from a group of domestic banks. (CNA)

that won a multi-billion dollar contract to build minesweepers for the Navy tried to get a NT$20.5 billion (US$679 million) loan from a group of domestic banks.

At the center of the investigation is Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. (CFS, 慶富造船), Taiwan’s largest private shipbuilder, which won a contract from the Ministry of National Defense in October 2014, to build six mine countermeasure vessels for Taiwan’s military for NT$34.9 billion (US$1.18 billion).

It’s a part of the nation’s domestic warship-building program.

A criminal investigation by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office found that fraud allegedly occurred when CFS was trying to obtain a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan from a group of nine domestic lenders led by First Commercial Bank.    [FULL  STORY]

Help Pacific allies with sustainable goals: Tsai

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-02

President Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday that Taiwan is helping its allies in the Pacific region in three key areas of sustainable development. The president is coming to the end of a weeklong trip to three of Taiwan’s six Pacific allies – the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.

Tsai said leaders in all three nations had communicated their concerns as island nations on the issue of global climate change and the need for sustainable development. She said Taiwan is working with its Pacific partners in the areas of education, medicine and agriculture. The three areas are key branches of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

In the area of education, Tsai says more scholarships will be made available for students from Pacific ally nations to study in Taiwan. In medicine, Tsai said Taiwan provides for medical graduates from the Marshall Islands to do their residency periods. Local hospitals in different parts of Taiwan also have exchange programs with Pacific ally nations. In terms of agriculture, Tsai said Taiwan offers help in the form of farming technology for island nations which have relatively little arable land.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese handset maker HTC launches U11+

The launch comes one day before Taiwanese can buy the iPhone X

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Taiwanese phone aficionados started lining up Thursday to

The HTC U11+ features the Edge Launcher. (By Central News Agency)

buy their iPhone X, local Apple rival HTC Corporation (宏達電) launched its U11+ model.

The new Taiwanese handset was the first from the company to feature a wide 6-inch screen. The version with an internal memory of 64 GB, 4 GB RAM costs NT$19,900 (US$659) in Taiwan, while the version with storage space at 128 GB, 6 GB RAM is priced at NT$21,900 (US$725).

The phone has a resolution of 1440 x 2880 pixels, while its battery rates 3930 mAh, meaning its life increases by a third compared to previous models, according to a report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily.    [FULL  STORY]

China Airlines chosen as maintenance, repair supplier for Airbus

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/02
By: Chen Wei-ting and Ko Lin

Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) European multinational corporation Airbus has chosen China

File photo

Airlines to become one its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) suppliers in Asia, Taiwan’s largest carrier announced in a press release Thursday.

“China Airlines is pleased to have been selected by Airbus,” China Airlines Senior Vice President Houng Wang (王宏) said, noting that it will also be providing aircraft conversion services for the European firm.

Together with the opening of a new hangar in 2018, Wang said the company is confident that its growing capability will offer state of the art and comprehensive MRO solutions to support Airbus aircrafts in Taiwan.

Established in 1959, China Airlines’ Engineering Maintenance Organization (EMO) was founded together with the establishment of the airline.    [FULL  STORY]

Display maker TPK sees profits rise 36%

SECOND MARRIAGE:The touchpanel supplier, which lost its position in the iPhone supply chain in 2012, said it was very unlikely to do so again in the coming years

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 03, 2017
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Touchpanel supplier TPK Holding Co Ltd (宸鴻) yesterday reported a 27 percent jump in net profit for last quarter from the same period last year, after it rejoined the supply chain for Apple Inc’s iPhone.

Last quarter marked the company’s fifth consecutive profitable quarter, as four years of restructuring efforts, including adjusting product portfolios and boosting manufacturing efficiency, appeared to bear fruit, TPK said.

“Since the beginning of this year, the company’s operations are back on the right track,” TPK chief strategist Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) said in a teleconference. “We believe our goal of posting annual revenue growth is within reach this year.”

TPK, the first touchpanel supplier for Apple’s first iPhone series, left the iPhone supply chain in 2012 after Apple switched to in-cell touchpanels for the iPhone 5, abandoning TPK’s out-cell technology.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan wants to renew investment agreement with the Philippines

Taiwan economics minister to discuss issue at Da Nang APEC meet

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan will open talks with the Philippines at this month’s Asia

Taiwan wants to renew BIA with the Philippines. (By Central News Agency)

Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting about the renewal of their bilateral investment agreement (BIA), Economics Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Wednesday.

The talks, scheduled for the Vietnamese town of Da Nang November 10-11, form part of the Taiwanese government’s “New Southbound Policy” efforts, the Central News Agency reported.

The original BIA dates back to the 1990s and focused on the manufacturing sector, but Taiwan wants to include the service sector and protection of the rights of Taiwanese business people in the Southeast Asian country, the report said.

Taiwan already has BIAs with eight countries covered by the “New Southbound Policy,” namely India, Vietnam, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]

New functions added to online system for migrant workers’ employment

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/01
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Wednesday added two new

CNA file photo

functions to its online system for managing the employment of migrant workers, allowing updates of employment information and the submission of applications to extend the transition time between contracts.

The two services were added to an online system launched by the ministry in January 2016 to manage the employment, extension of employment, and other important functions related to blue-collar migrant workers in Taiwan.

Employers need only to register for an online account using their business or citizen digital certificates, fill in the required information and click “send.”

In a press statement, the MOL said the additional functions allow employers to update their workers’ information online or request an extension of the transition time when workers are switching employers.    [FULL  STORY]