Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/25
By: Huang Li-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) A contract signed between state-run Taiwan Power Co.

(Taipower) and North Korea in 1997 on the disposal of nuclear waste has never been valid, leaving the company with no obligation to pay any compensation to North Korea, an official said Monday.

The contract had allowed Taipower to ship 60,000 barrels of low-radioactive nuclear waste to North Korea for ultimate disposal but never came into force because North Korea did not provide Taipower the data necessary to obtain an export permit for the shipment, according to Taipower spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福).

Although North Korea reportedly planned to seek NT$300 million in compensation from Taipower for breach of contract, the company has never received any formal request from North Korea for compensation or made any such payment, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

The budget airline has been trying to expand its market in Taiwan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/09/24
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to reports from Central News Agency, Japan-

based airline Peach Aviation will debut its Taoyuan-Sapporo flight service on Sunday and Taoyuan-Sendai flights on Monday. The round trip flights to Sapporo will be available every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and the Taoyuan-Sendai flights shall be available every week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

There were recent reports about the budget airline trying to expand its market in Taiwan as the airline claimed the Taiwanese are among its most frequent travelers. Therefore, to be able to attend to more customers the airline decided to increase the number of flights and include more destinations for the travelers to choose from.

The reports also claimed that the company plans to double the current number of flights, which is 19, by 2020.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/24
By: Emerson Lim and William Yen

Manila, Sept. 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and Dutertenomics

complement each other economically, said Arthur Abiera, Jr., assistant corporate secretary of Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO).

Abiera explained to the Central News Agency that Dutertenomics seeks “to improve on construction of infrastructure and to deliver a better commercial and investment environment.”

“We welcome foreign business companies to be a part of the related plans”, he added.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea of the Philippines Presidential Office described Dutertenomics as focusing on removing criminals from the streets in order to allow the populace to stay away from drugs and creating a safe environment for economic and social development.    [FULL  STORY]

SMART AND SPEEDY:The technology would allow for faster data reading and writing speeds, as well as self-repair to extend the lifespan of its solid-state drives

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2017
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter, in HSINCHU

Phison Electronics Corp (群聯電子), a designer of NAND flash memory controllers

and modules, plans to launch its first controller that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for its next-generation solid-state drive (SSD) next year.

The Hsinchu-based company is joining the ranks of its global semiconductor peers in exploring AI business opportunities to embrace the arrival of the Internet of Things era and the challenge it poses of processing massive amounts of data.

“Nowadays, people receive tons of information from the Internet and social media, like Google or Facebook, that need to be sorted and analyzed, sometimes instantly,” Phison founding chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a news conference for the launch of an AI and robotics lab in Hsinchu.

“We hope to incorporate AI technology into our products and use it to deal with the complicated job of big-data sorting and analysis. As data traffic is doubling every year, it is increasingly impossible for people’s brains to do the job,” Pua said.
[FULL  STORY]

Report caused stir online due to the quantity involved

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/09/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Three women caused a stir online by buying 18 boxes of I-

Mei Milk Tea (義美厚奶茶) within five minutes of a Costco outlet opening for business, according to a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily.

A customer of the American supermarket chain witnessed the feat and took pictures to post on the Baofei Gongshe (爆廢公社) online forum.

The Costco outlet, which was not identified, opened at 9:30, but at 9:35 a.m. the three middle-aged women already stood by the cash register at the exit with three carts loaded with, according to the photographer, 18 large boxes of the milk tea.

The product must have been the most popular item on sale at Costco since a recent rush on its strawberry cakes, the Apple Daily wrote.

According to the witness, there was no milk tea left for other customers, which was echoed by online commentators who said they now knew why they never found the product when visiting the supermarket.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/23
By: Chang Chien-chung and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) Morris Chang, chairman of the world’s largest contract chip

maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), made it clear on Saturday that the company’s production and research and development base will remain in Taiwan even with opportunities abroad.

Chang said that TSMC’s base for production and R&D will remain primarily in Taiwan, although mainland China will be a vast market in the future, while answering questions from the audience at a 20th anniversary event for National Chiao Tung University’s EMBA program.

The tech tycoon noted the huge market and opportunity that China presents during a speech on “Growth & Innovation,” but clarified that being part of China’s supply chain does not mean most of TSMC’s production will move to China.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Sep 24, 2017
By: Estelle Peard  /  AFP, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany

Taiwan’s Thunder Power, which makes electric vehicles, is planning to sell up to

40,000 units a year in Europe, while Chinese automakers aim to pass the European quality test before expanding to other regions

Traditional heavyweights Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Volvo Car Corp might have shunned this year’s International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany, but for Taiwanese and Chinese automakers looking to make inroads in Europe the chance to step into the limelight was not to be missed.

Two years after becoming a surprise hit at the previous IAA with an electric sedan concept car to rival Tesla Motors Inc’s Model S, Taiwanese upstart Thunder Power Co Ltd (淳紳) was back at Europe’s top industry showcase, which ends today.
[FULL  STORY]