Business and Finance

High-tech giants to start hiring drive

SEEKING ENGINEERS:TSMC said starting salaries for new graduates would be up to NT$60,000, but total earnings with bonuses could reach NT$1.48 million per year

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 06, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Several major high-tech firms are to launch hiring campaigns to each recruit thousands of new employees this year for an upgrade in production technology and capacity expansion.

Among the companies are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chip maker, and flat-panel suppliers AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達) and Innolux Corp (群創).

TSMC said that it is looking for 3,000 to 4,000 engineers this year, as output of its advanced 10 nanometer (nm) process — which began commercial production in the fourth quarter of last year — is expected to pick up significantly this year.
[FULL  STORY]

China Airlines, Nordam eye Taiwan joint venture

The China Post
Date: March 4, 2017

TAIPEI — China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s largest carrier, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S.-based Nordam Group Friday, under which the two sides will jointly set up a company in Taiwan to provide aerospace component repair services.

The company will be Nordam’s only maintenance plant in Asia, and will be part of the company’s efforts to strengthen its services in the region.

The MOU was signed by CAL Chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) and T. Hastings Siegfried, vice chairman of Nordam and chief operating officer of the group’s Asia-Pacific region.

According to CAL, Nordam will continue to provide maintenance services in Asia for thrust reversers and composite materials used for aerospace components.
[FULL  STORY]

Car sales in Taiwan drop by almost half in February

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/04
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) Car sales in Taiwan fell by almost 50 percent in February after the Lunar New Year shopping season, according to market statistics.

However, even with the 46.7 percent monthly drop to 24,215 units after the 7-day holiday ended on Feb. 1, the figure was 12.3 percent higher than in the same period of last year, the data showed.

Hotai Motor Co. (和泰車), the local sales agent for Japan’s Toyota Motor, remained the top car vendor in Taiwan, selling 6,048 units in February, down 51.06 percent from a month earlier and 7.9 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics.

China Motor Corp. (中華汽車), which markets cars under the Mitsubishi brand, rose one spot to second with sales of 3,003 units, a monthly drop of 36.2 percent but a 29 percent increase from a year earlier, the statistics indicated.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan improves in Bloomberg global misery index

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 05, 2017
By: Bloomberg

If last year was the year of political shocks, this could be the year when their impact on the global economy materializes. Bloomberg’s Misery Index — which combines countries’ inflation and unemployment outlooks for this year — aims to reveal just that.

For the third year in a row, Venezuela’s economic and political problems make it the most miserable in the ranking. The least miserable country is once again Thailand — in large part due to its unique way of calculating employment — and the rest of the ladder features noteworthy moves by the UK, Poland and Mexico, to name a few.

Economic woes have plagued Venezuela for years. Sluggish crude oil prices, the country’s only significant export, have fueled a crisis that has left grocery store shelves empty, hospitals without basic medication and violent crime rampant as desperation leads to anger.    [FULL  STORY]

Apple bonds listed on Taiwan’s OTC market

The China Post
Date: March 4, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Apple Inc., the U.S-based consumer electronics giant, listed US$1 billion worth of bonds on Taiwan’s over-the-counter (OTC) market on Friday, according to the Taipei Exchange, which operates the local OTC market.

It was the second time Apple has sold bonds to raise funds in Taiwan, after the U.S. company issued US$1.38 billion in bonds on the local OTC market in June 2016.

The second tranche of US$1 billion in bonds with a 30-year maturity sold by Apple carried a coupon rate of 4.3 percent, higher than the 4.15 percent offered in the first bond sale, with the U.S. Federal Reserve raising its key interest rates in December.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s economy continues stable growth in January

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/03
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Taiwan’s economy flashed a green light in January, signaling stable growth for the seventh consecutive month, the National Development Council (NDC) said Friday.

The composite monitoring indicator for January rose 1 point from a month earlier to 29, the highest since August 2014, the council said.

The NDC uses a five-color system to gauge the country’s economic situation, with blue indicating economic recession, yellow-blue representing economic sluggishness, green denoting stable growth, yellow-red referring to a warming economy, and red pointing to economic overheating. A green light flashes when the indicator is between 23 and 31 points.

Of the nine components of the index, three increased and three decreased in January, with the other three remaining unchanged, the NDC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai to sell 1% of stake in Sharp

LISTING REQUIREMENTS:The Japanese company wants to return to the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but cannot as long as the Taiwanese firm holds a 66% stake

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 04, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is planning to sell a 1 percent stake in Japan-based Sharp Corp to meet Japanese securities listing rules and help Sharp’s equity listing return to the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday.

Sharp shares were downgraded to from the first to the second section of the TSE in August last year after it reported that its debts had surpassed its assets as of the end of the preceeding March.

TSE regulations state that a company that wants to list its shares on the first section, where major large firms are traded, should have no less than 35 percent of its shares on the market.

Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, now holds a 66 percent stake in Sharp.
[FULL  STORY]

TSMC to maintain its high capex

The China Post
Date: March 4, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chip

The logo of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is seen in this photo taken in Hsinchu on Feb. 23. (Christine Chou, The China Post)

maker, is expected to have the third largest capital expenditure in the global integrated circuit (IC) industry in 2017, according to US-based advisory IC Insights.

In a research note, posted on its website on Thursday, IC Insights said that TSMC is expected to assign US$10 billion in capex for 2017, trailing only South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co’s forecast US$12.5 billion and U.S-based Intel Corp’s estimated US$12 billion.

The research showed that TSMC’s capex for 2017 will be about 2 percent lower than the US$10.25 billion spent in 2016, which was up 27 percent from a year earlier.

In late February, Mark Liu (劉德音), TSMC’s president and co-chief executive officer, told the company’s annual supplier forum that the chip maker will focus on high-end technology development, including sophisticated 7, 5 and even 3 nanometer processes this year, in a bid to maintain its lead over competitors.    [FULL  STORY]

France’s Natixis opens branch in Taipei

The financial firm previously had a representative office in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/02
By: Matthew Lubin, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Natixis, the international corporate, investment, insurance and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the second largest banking group in France, officially opened its newest branch office in Taipei in the Cathay Landmark Building in Xinyi District on Thursday.

The new branch is part of Natixis’ goals to further expand in Asia and better assist its Taiwanese clients to invest overseas, particularly in Europe and the US. It also hopes to grow its corporate and institutional investor client base in Taiwan via the new office.    [FULL  STORY]

Morris Chang confirms Liu, Wei as his successors

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/02
By: Jackson Chang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, March 2 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman

From L-R: Mark Liu (劉德音), Morris Chang (張忠謀) and C.C. Wei (魏哲家)

Morris Chang (張忠謀) confirmed on Thursday that he will be succeeded by the company’s two presidents and chief executive officers, Mark Liu (劉德音) and C.C. Wei (魏哲家).

At Chang’s recommendation, the two men joined the board of directors of the world’s largest contract chip maker, increasing its membership from eight to 10, last month.

As Wei has been tipped to take over as chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, he is widely seen as the front runner to replace Chang.

Responding to media inquiries about the issue after attending an event at National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Chang said, “I have long said there will be two successors and they are Mark Liu and C.C. Wei.”     [FULL  STORY]