The China Post
Date: July 9, 2016
By: Marissa Lee ,The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Automation could replace many jobs in the region in the coming years but such technological advances will also make it even harder for local firms to find high-skilled staff to operate the new equipment, according to a new report.

One way to meet this need is to encourage students to focus on so-called STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) yesterday.

“Despite significant indications of innovation and technological progress, enterprises in Singapore reported that costs and skills are the biggest barriers to upgrading technology, with lack of skills reported more frequently in Singapore than on average in ASEAN,” the report said.

Singapore accounts for half of ASEAN’s “high-skill, technology-intensive” manufacturing exports, followed by Thailand (19.6 percent) and Malaysia (15.7 percent).     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 10, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip-maker, has been ranked 48th globally in terms of market capitalization, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan.

In a 2016 report on market cap, PwC Taiwan said TSMC was the only Taiwanese company that made the top 100 rankings, which were based on market capitalization in U.S. dollars as of the end of March.

TSMC’s market cap has increased by US$9 billion from a year earlier to US$130 billion, but its ranking has remained the same in 2016, the report showed.

In the report, PwC said the top 100 firms in the world saw their combined market cap fall 4 percent from a year earlier to US$15.58 billion, the first annual decline since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.     [FULL  STORY]

IMPETUS:Virtual reality, Internet of Things and handheld gadgets act as catalysts in an upward trend, Department of Statistics Director-General Yeh Maan-tzwu said

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 09, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Exports contracted by 2.1 percent annually to US$22.89 billion last month, the smallest decline in 17 months, as demand for technology products gained traction while non-technology exports remained weak, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Trade figures might return to positive territory this month, ending 17 consecutive months of declines, as demand spurred by inventory-building looks healthy and sustainable if Brexit and other downside risks prove to be controllable, Department of Statistics Director-General Yeh Maan-tzwu (葉滿足) said.

“The growth momentum for electronic component exports is likely to be sustainable given the sanguine guidance by major technology firms and continued increase in their capital spending,” Yeh said by telephone.

Virtual reality, handheld and Internet of Things gadgets are acting as catalysts in an upward trend that might further improve with the expected launches of Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhone, iPad and other products in September, Yeh said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 9, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–Nearly 60 percent of Taiwanese manufacturers expected their exports to rise in the second half of the year amid improved economic sentiment at home and abroad, according to a Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) survey.

The economic think tank said 59.8 percent of the polled manufacturers in its semi-annual survey said their exports would increase in the coming six months, up from 45.2 percent who felt that way in a similar survey conducted six months ago.

About one in six respondents (16.1 percent) said they expected their outbound sales to fall, compared with 26.8 percent who were pessimistic in the previous survey.

CIER President Wu Chung-shu said that although Taiwan’s exports have been haunted by weak global demand, a majority of local manufacturers now believe the situation will improve.

Taiwan’s exports fell year-on-year for the 16th consecutive month in May, and the losing streak could extend into June.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-07
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan staged a technical rebound Thursday from a slump seen a session earlier as buying in large-cap electronics stocks remerged on the back of a higher Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

Among the gaining high-tech stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock on the local main board, led the upturn in the sector and even the broader market amid continued optimism toward the contract chip maker’s sales for the third quarter, they said. The financial sector underperformed the overall market, however, as investors remained worried about the sector’s exposure to the real estate market in the United Kingdom, which has decided to leave the European Union, plunging the British pound, they added.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed up 65.16 points, or 0.76 percent, at 8,640.91, after moving between 8,605.38 and 8,653.70, on turnover of NT$$62.99 billion (US$1.95 billion). The market opened up 0.35 percent in a knee-jerk reaction to a higher Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average recouped its earlier losses to close up 0.44 percent, and the S&P 500 index also recovered from a low to end up 0.54 percent after the U.S. Institute of Supply Management non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index improved in June, dealers said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 8, 2016
By: CNA

SHANGHAI — Ground was broken Thursday for a new 12-inch wafer plant of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chip-maker, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, with commercial production of the new site scheduled to start in the second half of 2018.

TSMC Chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) attended the ground-breaking ceremony to observe the new milestone in the development of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in its global expansion strategies.

Several high-ranking mainland authorities and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, including Jiangsu province CCP secretary Li Qiang, also attended the ground-breaking.

The new TSMC facility will be the third 12-inch wafer plant built by a Taiwanese chip-maker in China after the two others, operated by the second-largest Taiwanese chip-maker United Microelectronics Corp. (聯電) and memory chip supplier Powerchip Technology Corp. (力晶科技).    [FULL  STORY]