MASS PRODUCTION:The investment in laser-welding processes will help the firm handle more orders from a Belgium-based client, an unnamed Tsang Yow official said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Auto parts supplier Tsang Yow Industrial Co (倉佑實業) yesterday said it plans to invest about NT$200 million (US$6.53 million) on capacity expansion in China this year in a bid to increase its presence in the nation’s automatic transmission market.

The company, which makes automotive powertrain components for global brands, is to add several laser-welding production lines at its subsidiary in Wuxi, China.

“Some laser-welding lines are to enter mass production by the end of next month,” a Tsang Yow official said by telephone yesterday.

The official, who declined to be named, said the investment in laser-welding processes will help the company handle more orders for continuously variable transmissio    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 28, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — MediaTek is partnering with Nokia to standardize fifth-generation (5G) technology, the Taiwanese tech giant announced Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The partnership would integrate MediaTek’s extensive network device customer base with Nokia’s network technology expertise to develop a 5G-enabled ecosystem ready for commercial implementation, the tech giants said.

MediaTek said the two firms were seeking to actively contribute to the standardization of 5G mobile networks.

According to the companies, the first deliverables of the partnership could be seen as early as 2018 in the form of a pre-commercial platform designed for 5G New Radio communication technology.
[FULL  STORY]

BOARDROOM BATTLES:Chien Hung-wen is nearing retirement age at Mega Securities, but wants permission to stay as chairman there in return for giving up his post at TPPC

Taipei Times
Date: Feb. 27, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Taiwan Pulp and Paper Corp (TPPC, 台灣紙業) chairman Chien Hung-wen (簡鴻文) might relinquish his control of the company in exchange for the Ministry of Finance’s support for his chairmanship at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券), the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Friday, citing sources at the ministry.

Chien, the focal point of an intensified boardroom row at the 70-year-old Tainan-based TPPC, filed a request with the ministry on Friday for permission to extend his tenure at the brokerage arm of state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the Liberty Times said.

The ministry is a major shareholder of Mega Financial and has the power to appoint head    [FULL  STORY]

BOARDROOM BATTLES:Chien Hung-wen is nearing retirement age at Mega Securities, but wants permission to stay as chairman there in return for giving up his post at TPPC

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Taiwan Pulp and Paper Corp (TPPC, 台灣紙業) chairman Chien Hung-wen (簡鴻文) might relinquish his control of the company in exchange for the Ministry of Finance’s support for his chairmanship at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券), the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Friday, citing sources at the ministry.

Chien, the focal point of an intensified boardroom row at the 70-year-old Tainan-based TPPC, filed a request with the ministry on Friday for permission to extend his tenure at the brokerage arm of state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the Liberty Times said.

The ministry is a major shareholder of Mega Financial and has the power to appoint heads at the financial firm and its subsidiaries.

Chien turns 65 this year, the official retirement age at Mega Securities, the paper said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Textile manufacturer Lealea Enterprise Co (力麗) on Saturday said it would set up its first overseas factory in Indonesia this year.

Chairman James Kuo (郭紹儀) has made investing in Indonesia one of Lealea’s strategic priorities and set the goal of launching operations at the Indonesian site in the second half of the year, the company said.

Taipei-based Lealea, which makes polyester filament yarns and polyester chips, signed a memorandum of understanding with PT Taroko Indonesia and is to spend up to US$50 million to acquire PT Taroko’s production facilities in Bandung, Indonesia’s third-largest city.

PT Taroko is a joint venture between Taipei-based Taroko Textile Co (大魯閣纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) subsidiary.
[FULL  STORY]

GLOBAL COMPARISON:The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index compares 39 cities. Taipei’s Q4 showing, an 8% drop, was two notches up from the previous quarter

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The prices of prime residential property in Taipei have fallen faster over the past year than in any major global city with the exception of Tokyo and Moscow, real-estate consultants Knight Frank said.

The average luxury home price in 39 cities in the world covered by the Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index rose 4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier after an 3.8 percent year-on-year increase in the third quarter.

However, luxury home prices in Taipei fell 8 percent from a year earlier, only better than Tokyo (down 8.8 percent) and Moscow (down 11.2 percent).

Taipei rose two notches in the rankings from the third quarter, when luxury home prices fell 8.9 percent from a year earlier, Knight Frank said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 25, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiflex Scientific Co., Ltd. (8039-TW), a provider of flexible copper-clad laminate (FCCL) for upstream clients and a manufacturer of solar backing sheets, has received an operating license for a new factory in Kaohsiung. The company is expected to spend NT$600 million in capital expenditures this year. However, given its reservations regarding the continued high potential of the mobile phone market, it will not be expanding its FCCL production line.

Last year, Taiflex Scientific earned a total revenue of NT$10.284 billion and a gross operating earnings of NT$1.896 billion with gross margins of 18.43 percent. The company made an operating profit of NT$955 million with net profits totaling to NT$683 million before taxes and NT$580 million after tax. EPS was NT$2.81. Taiflex Scientific achieved year-on-year revenue growth of 0.16 percent while its gross margins dropped by 2.65 percent. The company is expected to maintain this year’s revenue above the NT$10 billion line with forecasted high digit growth in FCCL sales. The strategy is not to raise revenue but rather to improve production yields because this year’s primary strategy is to increase gross margins.    [FULL  STORY]

TECHNICAL EFFECTS:KGI Securities analyst Phil Chu said that the market has been consolidating, with resistance on the main board and support for the weighted index

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 26, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA and Bloomberg

Shares in Taiwan on Friday closed slightly lower on reduced turnover as investors turned cautious ahead of the 228 Memorial Day holiday long weekend, dealers said.

Selling focused on select large-cap non-high-tech stocks, in particular petrochemical and financial firms, to push down the weighted index, but the semiconductor sector bucked the downturn, bolstering the electronics sector and the broader market, they said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended down 18.84 points, or 0.19 percent, at 9,750.47, after moving between 9,740.18 and 9,784.39. The index was down 0.1 percent from its close of 9,759.76 on Feb. 17.

Turnover on Friday was NT$89.69 billion (US$2.93 billion), down from Thursday’s NT$101.07 billion.    [FULL  STORY]