Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/18
By: Bernie Chiu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Taiwan’s central bank is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.375 percent next week for the fourth consecutive quarter, market observers said Sunday.

The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) will likely leave rates unchanged when its board meets on June 22 because there are no clear signs of economic recovery and considerable uncertainty still exists in international financial markets, according to analysts.

The meeting will come just a week after the U.S. Federal Reserve lifted its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on June 14, its third rate hike in six months, and announced it would cut its balance sheet by reducing its bond and securities holdings later this year.

A bank executive in Taiwan said Taiwan’s economic recovery remains sluggish, and an easy money policy is still needed to support economic growth.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: June 17, 2017
By: The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Tech giant Quanta Computer’s founder and chairman Barry Lam (林百里) has

expressed anxiety about Taiwan falling behind other countries in the development artificial intelligence and 5G technology.

A couple days after tech tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) stated his reluctance to invest in Taiwan, Lam expressed his own sentiments regarding investing in the country.

“I am optimistic about the country’s capability for research and development, so Quanta will continue to invest in Taiwan in the long run,” he said after a shareholder meeting on Friday.

In particular, the chairman said he was interested in the coming together of medicine and cloud technology, which has been evident in recent a collaboration of Quanta Computer and Taipei Medical University in developing a medical-specific cloud database.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/17
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) Chinese yuan deposits held by banks operating in Taiwan rose slightly in May from a month earlier, halting four straight months of decline, according to Taiwan’s central bank.

The gains in May were largely due to an increase in yuan deposits taken by banks’ offshore banking units (OBUs), the result, the central bank said, of Taiwanese businesses in China putting more of their funds in OBU accounts to meet higher seasonal cash needs.

As of the end of May, yuan deposits received by Taiwanese banks, including negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), totaled 308.28 billion yuan (US$45.34 billion), up 309 million yuan from the end of April.

Yuan deposits in Taiwanese banks have soared since February 2013, when Taiwan’s central bank lifted a ban on local banks’ domestic banking units (DBUs) conducting yuan-denominated transactions, including yuan deposits.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: June 17, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Science and Technology Minister Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said Friday that his

ministry is planning to invest NT$4 billion (US$132 million) over the next four years in the local semiconductor sector.

Attending the inauguration ceremony of a new production plant of Taiwan-based NAND Flash controller supplier Phison Electronics Corp. (群聯) located in Miaoli County’s Chunan, Chen said that the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will provide NT$1 billion per year during the 2018-2021 period to a wide range of high-tech chip applications such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Chen said that the planned investments are expected to lead semiconductor firms operating in Taiwan and local academic circles to invest on their own to speed up the pace of Taiwan’s integrated circuit business development.

Chen added that the government investment is also aimed at working with the private sector to cultivate its own talent pool in the local IC business in a bid to upgrade the industry to compete in the global market.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/06/16
By: Taiwan News

In concert with the government’s promotion of its “New South bound Policy”, CIECA has invited the Taipei Computer Association, an organization responsible for planning the promotion of cooperation with the Thai information service industry and a friend to CIECA, to jointly form a delegation to Thailand.

Dr. Wenent Pan, Chairman of CIECA’s Thailand Committee (Chairman of the CTCI Foundation, Gintech Energy Corp.) will lead the 48-person delegation to visit Thailand from the 14th to the 17th of this month. On the 16th, he will jointly preside over the 26th Joint Economic Cooperation Meeting between CIECA and FTI with Mr. Chen Namchaisiri, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries at the Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok.

To strengthen substantive cooperative relations between our two nations, the conference will discuss “Smart Manufacturing”, “Smart Transportation”, “ICT” and “e-Commerce”. FTI hosted a dinner for our delegation on the 15th. The CIECA delegation also visited CAT Telecom and the Thai Ministry of Industry for a briefing on “Thailand 4.0.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/16
By: Yang Shu-min and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Taiwan’s mango exports are expected to hit a new high in 2017 with output in

Tainan, the largest mango growing area in the country, forecast to post a year-on-year increase of up to 20 percent in mango output, the Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) of the Council of Agriculture said on Friday.

According to the AFA, Taiwan’s mango exports hit a record high of NT$810 million (US$26.64 million) after selling 10,812 metric tons overseas in 2015. Following an exceptional harvest in Tainan, exports for 2017 are expected to top 2015.

Meanwhile, Tainan announced the 2017 Tainan International Mango Festival will start on June 24.

The AFA said that this year’s mango harvest in Tainan was up 20 percent from a year earlier, offsetting an expected 30 percent decline in output in Pingtung, the second largest mango growing area in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

INTELLIGENT INVESTMENT:The government is to invest NT$4 billion in developing AI over the next four years, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2017
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter, in Miaoli

Phison Electronics Corp (群聯電子), a supplier of NAND flash memory controllers and modules,

yesterday held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of a NT$800 million (US$26.33 million) facility in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南).

The construction of the facility, which could house 2,300 employees, took less than seven months to complete, Phison said.

The company has said it plans to increase its Taiwanese workforce of about 1,200 people.

“Demand has come back this week — our major customers have placed big orders to meet growing demand for USBs and solid-state drives,” Phison chairman Pua Khein-seng (潘健成) told a news briefing following the ceremony.

“China shows the strongest growth momentum among all areas,” Pua said. “We feel demand is improving month-by-month.”

Phison in November last year forecast solid NAND flash demand for the whole of this year.
[FULL  STORY]