UNCERTAIN TIMES: Despite good order visibility for the third quarter, a top company official said it is hard to predict demand as clients could ‘easily delay or cancel’ orders

Taipi Times
Date: Jun 16, 2020
By: Natasha Li / Staff reporter

Electronic component manufacturer Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday gave a

hazy outlook for business in the second half of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From what we know, the coronavirus is still spreading, with new cases in Beijing, as well as in the US and South America… There is a lot of uncertainty which is fostering [economic] instability from a global perspective,” Lite-On vice chairman and chief operating officer Warren Chen (陳廣中) told a news conference after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.

Although Lite-On has good order visibility for the third quarter, Chen expressed doubts about its future performance.

“We can no longer rely on clients’ orders to predict market demand,” as clients could “easily delay or cancel” orders, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Eat Asia Forum
Date: 14 June 2020
By:} Brad Setser, Council on Foreign Relations

Social distancing has become the primary tool for protecting public health amid the coronavirus pandemic, and its inevitable impact on economic life has required governments to provide income and support to those who can no longer work, even as spending on public health rises. Nearly all governments globally are now running large fiscal deficits, and a sharp rise in the stock of public debt globally is expected. Asian countries, though, are well-suited to handle this increase in public debt — with some exceptions.

Economies like Taiwan and South Korea have it relatively easy. Taiwan was running a 10.5 per cent of GDP current account surplus before the virus, using its high level of savings to invest around the world. Its life insurers in particular were big buyers of risky global bonds. Thanks to an effective public health response, Taiwan appears likely to avoid the kind of economic shock experienced by Europe and the United States. But there is no doubt that it can accommodate large fiscal deficits. In fact, more Taiwanese bond issuance would help Taiwan’s insurers, who are being forced abroad by the lack of domestic supply.
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Thus far, 25 Israeli startups have been selected for the program, eight of which have already signed cooperation agreements to pilot their technologies and products

Ctech
Date: 14.06.2020

Taiwan’s largest innovation company, Innovation to Industry (i2i), has launched a program named IP² LaunchPad, which provides Israeli startups with exposure to the growing East Asian markets, i2i announced Sunday. The program also grants the Israeli startups access to investments from $200,000 in the first phase and up to $3 million at the end of the program.

The purpose of the program is to create collaborations between Israeli startups and the technology and healthcare markets in Taiwan, to connect Israeli companies with leading strategic partners from the manufacturing and distribution industry, Taiwan’s health care system, and potential investors.

IP² is managed in Israel by the Israeli consulting firm Healthier Globe headed by Rani Shifron.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/14
By  Central News Agency

People in Taiwan are eager to travel again as COVID-19 fears ease, but with overseas travel restrictions still in place, domestic tourism has been the big winner, with hotels, travel agencies and amusement parks seeing vigorous demand.

Several hotel operators, including Silks Hotel Group, Humble House Hotels and Fullon Hotels & Resorts, will see an average occupancy rate of 80 to 90 percent in their hotels at popular tourist spots during the June 25-28 Dragon Boat Festival weekend, according to industry sources.

That would be the highest occupancy rate local hotels have seen since the COVID-19 outbreak began in early January, sources said.

In March for example, the average occupancy rate for hotels in resort areas was 36.15 percent, according to Tourism Bureau statistics.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/14/2020
By: Wu Po-wei and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, June 14 (CNA) Taiwan's two major fuel suppliers announced price hikes Sunday for the seventh consecutive week, pushing domestic fuel prices to their highest levels in three months.

State-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan will raise its retail gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.8 per liter, effective midnight Sunday, the company said.

After the increase, prices at CPC gas stations will be NT$21.4 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$22.9 per liter for 95 unleaded, NT$24.9 per liter for 98 unleaded, and NT$18.8 per liter for super diesel, CPC said.

This week's fuel prices are the highest since the week of March 9, when CPC charged NT$24.1 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$25.6 per liter for 95 unleaded, NT$27.6 per liter for 98 unleaded, and NT$21.7 per liter for super diesel, CPC data showed.   [FULL  STORY]

Good for both countries' economies and a firm message to China.

The National Interest
Date: June 10, 2020
By: Ross Marchand

Unsurprisingly, the novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc on globalization and free trade. Driven by diminished demand and “socially distant” logistical difficulties, international imports and exports have slumped to their lowest level in at least four years. Existing trade relationships with China are becoming increasingly frayed amid revelations that the communist regime covered up early coronavirus cases. Despite this bad news, lawmakers and Trump administration officials are overlooking a stable, reliable trading partner with significant technological accomplishments: Taiwan. Inking a free trade deal with Taiwan would let the world know that the two countries are open for business and innovation in a new, post-Coronavirus world. It would also send a powerful message to Beijing that rejecting Taiwan is no longer an option. It’s time to forge a new era of cooperation and shared prosperity with the island-state juggernaut.

Even before the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. and Taiwan had already established a strong, mutually beneficial trading partnership. American Enterprise Institute scholars Dan Blumenthal and Michael Mazza note, “It [Taiwan] occupies a key node in the global supply chain, including for important American tech

companies like Apple and Micron…Without Taiwan’s semiconductor and information and communication technology (ICT) industries, many of the world’s most ubiquitous consumer electronics would not exist or, perhaps, would rely on China’s (People’s Republic of China, PRC) industry to the detriment of the United States.”

This technological transfer and cooperation will prove increasingly critical as the U.S. rolls out the new 5G wireless standard this year. This “latest, greatest” generation of wireless connectivity can help bridge the digital divide and power a host of new applications, if America focuses on the right relationships with countries such as Taiwan to scale up deployment. Even in these exceptionally difficult times, Taiwanese companies are setting up shop in the U.S. to massively ramp up chip production. On May 15, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. committed to building a $12 billion plant in Arizona slated for completion in 2024. With these partnerships, America can expand internet access to underserved communities with 5G and TV White Spaces via chip-powered devices that won’t break the bank. Shifting more of this technological supply chain to Taiwan and Taiwanese companies would also help the U.S. disentangle itself from a thorny trade relationship with China.    [FULL  STORY]

Company plans to invest more in India, Thailand to diversify risk amid trade wars

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Technology company Delta Electronics, Inc. said Wednesday (June 10) that it would increase investment in Thailand and India in order to diversify its production amid global trade wars.

Taiwanese corporations have sought to leave China in order to avoid tariffs on Chinese-made goods in the U.S., while the island nation's government launched a New Southbound Policy in 2016 to promote exchanges with countries in South and Southeast Asia, including Thailand and India.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/10/2020
By: Han Ting-ting an

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Shareholders of Largan Precision Co., a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc., on Wednesday approved a proposed NT$79 (US$2.62) cash dividend per share, the highest level of any of the companies listed on Taiwan's equity market.

The latest cash dividend proposal was approved in an annual general meeting held Wednesday for the company's 2019 earnings per share (EPS) of NT$210.70, beating the payout of NT$68 for 2018's EPS.

Largan appeared conservative toward its cash dividend payout, market analysts said, so the total payout is expected to hit NT$10.597 billion, representing a payout ratio of only 37.5 percent compared with its 2019 net profit of NT$28.26 billion.

Analysts said Largan intends to keep its large retained earnings for future expansion to meet market demand.    [FULL  STORY]

GROWTH: Chunghwa Telecom has already sold 10,000 to 20,000 5G smartphones, and sales would surge when retail prices of the devices drop, a company official said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 11, 2020
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said that it expects its number of 5G subscribers to reach 1 million within a year of the new wireless technology’s commercial launch, adding that the uptake of 5G would be similar to that of 4G.

The company accumulated 1.33 million 4G subscribers in the 12 months after it rolled out its 4G services in June 2014.

Chunghwa is expected to launch its 5G services on July 1.

Yesterday, it demonstrated a 5G bus equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/09/2020
By: Wu Po-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) The Investment Commission said Tuesday it has approved an application from Taiwan's largest passive electronics component maker Yageo Corp. to acquire U.S. rival Kemet Corp. for US$1.64 billion.

In response, Yageo said the commission's approval is expected to accelerate the completion of the acquisition, which was announced in November 2019, and anticipated it will include Kemet's sales and earnings on its books in July at the earliest.

Earlier this year, Yageo, which produces components such as chip resistors, inductors and multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), said the deal was scheduled to be completed in the third quarter after the company secured necessary approvals from antitrust authorities in Austria, Germany, Taiwan, the United States and China.

In a statement, the commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Kemet specializes in passive components used in a wide range of industries such as automotive electronics, industrial applications, aviation, medical care, smartphones, cloud-based Internet communications, 5G gadgets and wireless communications.    [FULL  STORY]