Business and Finance

Taiwan’s Chang Hwa Bank to open branch in Philippines

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/25
By: Tien Yu-bin and Elaine Hou

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Taipei-based Chang Hwa Bank is poised to open a new branch in the Philippines and an office in Myanmar later this year, as part of an ongoing plan to expand its overseas presence.

The bank, one of the major commercial banks in Taiwan, said the Philippine government has approved its application to open a branch in Manila. It hopes that the new branch will be able to start operations by the end of the year.

The bank is looking to capitalize on fast economic growth in the Philippines and the Philippine government policies designed to improve the investment environment there, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

TIER raises GDP growth forecast

MARKET BALANCE:While electronics firms appear optimistic about the second half of the year, and exports could grow 8.4 percent this year, domestic demand is still floundering

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 26, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday slightly raised its forecast for the nation’s GDP growth this year to 2.08 percent, from a previous projection of 2.04 percent, as exports regain growth momentum after slowing in the second quarter.

The planned launches of next-generation devices by global technology brands are expected to ramp up business for local firms in their supply chains, with the benefit likely more evident next quarter, the Taipei-based think tank said.

“Despite the upward revision, the nation’s economy continues to have difficulty casting off weak growth as domestic demand flounders and global uncertainty lingers,” TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference.

Major smartphone brands are expected to introduce new models next month, followed in September by Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhone, which will reportedly feature a new design to mark the product’s 10th anniversary, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

New graduates swell ranks of unemployed

RISING INCOME:With the economy improving, the average monthly wage rose to NT$39,883 in May, or NT$48,848 with bonuses and other compensation

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The unemployment rate rose to 3.74 percent last month, ending two months of decline, as new graduates and part-time workers entered the job market, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The number of unemployed — 440,000 people — might climb higher this month and beyond until the summer vacation comes to an end, the agency said.

“The nation’s jobless population increased by 9,000 last month as first-time job seekers picked up by an equal number, but fewer people quit or lost jobs to business closures and downsizing,” DGBAS Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a news conference.

The unemployment rate gained 0.08 percentage points compared with May, but slid 0.18 percentage points from a year earlier, the DGBAS report showed.
[FULL  STORY]

Gartner: AI technologies will be in almost every new software product by 2020

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/07/24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Market hype and growing interest in artificial intelligence (AL)

Analysts predict that by 2020, AI technologies will be virtually pervasive in almost every new software product and service, according to Gartner.

are pushing established software vendors to introduce AI into their product strategy, creating considerable confusion in the process, according to Gartner, Inc.

Analysts predict that by 2020, AI technologies will be virtually pervasive in almost every new software product and service, according to Gartner.

The term “artificial intelligence” was not in the top 100 search terms on gartner.com In January 2016, according to Gartner. By May 2017, the term ranked at No. 7, indicating the popularity of the topic and interest from Gartner clients in understanding how AI can and should be used as part of their digital business strategy, Gartner said. Gartner predicts that by 2020, AI will be a top five investment priority for more than 30 percent of CIOs.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s industrial production up for 2nd straight month

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/24
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s industrial production for June rose year-on-year for the

CNA file photo

second consecutive month largely because of growing global demand for high-tech gadgets, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

The June industrial production index rose 3.14 percent from a year earlier to 111.35 after a 0.85 percent year-on-year increase in May, as the electronics sector enters its traditional peak season, the MOEA data showed.

The June figures reflect a relatively long period of steady growth in output, interrupted only in April when the industrial production index unexpectedly fell 0.15 percent due to higher than expected inventory adjustments by customers of Taiwan’s electronics vendors and volatile commodity prices.

The April decline ended eight straight months of output growth.    [FULL  STORY]

Macronix profits triple on tight supply

SELLER’S MARKET:The chipmaker sees continued robust demand as the industry enters its peak season while supply constraints remain as big players exit the market

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2017
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies read-only memory (ROM) chips to Japan’s Nintendo Co, yesterday said that its net profit more than tripled sequentially to NT$616 million (US$20.29 million) last quarter, as a persistent supply crunch boosted prices and factory utilization.

Last quarter was the fourth straight profitable quarter for the chipmaker. It made NT$203 million in the first quarter of this year, while it lost NT$689 million in the second quarter of last year on heavy depreciation costs.

Gross margin climbed to 34 percent last quarter from 27 percent in the first quarter, hitting the highest level in about five years, the Hsinchu-based memorychip manufacturer said.

Macronix expects its growth momentum to further pick up speed in the second half as the consumer electronics industry enters its peak season, which will only aggravate supply constraints.    [FULL  STORY]

Forecast of Taiwan’s manufacturing output growth upgraded

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/07/23
By: Central News Agency

The Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) under the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute has raised its forecast of output growth for Taiwan’s manufacturing sector due to a growing global economy.

The IEK said that local machinery firms as a whole are expected to climb out of the doldrums seen in 2016 and return to a growth pattern this year.

According to the IEK, the production value of Taiwan’s manufacturing sector for 2017 is expected to grow 3.87 percent from a year earlier, up 0.67 percentage points from the research group’s earlier estimate. The IEK said that it remains upbeat about the economic fundamentals of the United States, the eurozone, Japan, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the major buyers of Taiwan’s products. It added that Taiwan’s exports-oriented manufacturing sector will benefit from this positive trend.    [FULL  STORY]

CPC to hike fuel prices this week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/23
By: Bernie Chiu and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan (中油) said it will raise its domestic gasoline prices by NT$0.3 (US$0.01) per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.4 per liter this week, starting at midnight Sunday.

Following the increase, prices at CPC gas stations nationwide will be NT$20.8 per liter for super diesel, NT$23.2 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$24.7 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$26.7 per liter for 98 unleaded, the company said.

CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula made up of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.    [FULL  STORY]

Approved FDI in Taiwan shows more than 31% drop

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/22
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) The value of government approved foreign direct investments in

CNA file photo

Taiwan plunged more than 31 percent in the first half of 2017 from a year earlier, due mainly to a high comparison base, according to the Investment Commission.

In the first six months of the year, approved FDI in Taiwan totaled US$3.77 billion, a year-on-year decline of 31.44 percent, while the number of approved FDI applications dropped 4.12 percent from a year earlier to 1,558, the commission’s data showed.

Chu Ping (朱萍), a section chief at the commission, said that Dutch-registered Micron Technology B.V. last year invested about US$3.33 billion in DRAM chip maker Inotera Memories Inc. (華亞科), which boosted Micron’s stake in the Taiwanese company from 33 percent to 100 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

US confirms Taiwan steel dump

FINAL RULING:Taiwanese rebar exporters face tariffs of 3.5 to 32.01 percent, while Turkey was slapped with 5 to 8 percent and Japan faces tariffs exceeding 200 percent

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 23, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA, Washington

The US Department of Commerce on Friday said that Taiwan’s steel exporters sold certain steel products to the US market at unfairly low prices.

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced in a statement the affirmative final ruling in the department’s anti-dumping duty probe that found that Taiwan exporters dumped steel concrete reinforcing bars into the US market.

According to the department, Taiwan’s firms that make steel concrete reinforcing bars sold their products to the US at 3.5 percent to 32.01 percent lower than fair market prices.

The department said it made the findings based on evidence provided by the interested groups.    [FULL  STORY]