Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/11
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) A move by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) to disclose trading information on the local equity market has increased the chances for investors to make deals, according to the exchange.

The TWSE, which operates the local main board, said that about 20 percent to 30 percent of the orders placed by investors are made based on trading information provided by the exchange, indicating that the data is useful for investors in mapping out their trading strategies.

Since February 2012, the TWSE has started to provide trading information about the best deal-match, through the exchange’s deal-matching simulation mechanism, which is based on buying and selling orders placed in the five minutes before the market closes at 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In addition to the information available through the simulation system, the TWSE has also postponed the closing time for any stock that appears volatile based on the simulation system, in a bid to allow investors more flexibility to adjust their buying and selling orders.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/10
By: Kuo Chu-chen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) The Pingtung County government’s achievements in developing solar

Josh M. Cartin, chief of the economic section of the American Institute in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy of the Pingtung County Environmental Protection Bureau)

energy by using floating solar panels have received praise from a U.S. official who made a visit to Taiwan’s southernmost county Tuesday.

While visiting Taiwan’s first floating solar power plant, Josh M. Cartin, chief of the economic section of the American Institute in Taiwan, said he was amazed at how the floating plant utilizes the abundant water surface of the Mudan Reservoir.

The solar panels floating on the water’s surface reduce the evaporation rate of the water body by 14-15 percent, while the water has a cooling effect on the panels, keeping them at a constant temperature, according to Lu Tai-ying (魯台營), head of the county’s Environmental Protection Bureau.

This solar energy technology is proving versatile enough to be deployed in various areas, he said.

For his part, Cartin said he is particularly interested in building such floating solar energy systems on U.S. reservoirs, combining water conservation and energy production.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: May 10, 2016

A seminar on conducting teacher development programs in Southeast Asian languages was

Offspring of Southeast Asian immigrants in New Taipei City are all smiles at the prospects of leading Taiwan’s efforts to expand its economic footprint in Southeast Asia. (Staff photo/Huang Chung-hsin)

held for the first time May 6 in central Taiwan’s Nantou County by the Ministry of Education, underscoring the commitment of the government to strengthening the country’s ties with Southeast Asia.

Conducted under the MOE’s New Inhabitants Talent-Developing Project launched in December last year, the seminar aims to help schools provide courses in Southeast Asian languages for Taiwan’s elementary and high schoolers by 2018. It is expected that students, especially the nation’s 250,000 children of immigrants from Southeast Asia, will develop language skills enabling them to play a key role in growing Taiwan’s economic footprint in Southeast Asia.

According to the latest MOE statistics, the number of Southeast Asians studying in Taiwan was 26,000 last year, or 24 percent of all overseas students in Taiwan, up 13 percent from 2014. In comparison the number of people from Taiwan studying in the region was less than 3,000.

Rebecca Lan, deputy director-general of MOE’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education said in this era of globalization, Taiwan’s younger generations should engage more with the world, especially nations in Southeast Asia achieving consistent economic growth and crying out for talent. “Some young people view Southeast Asia as a tourist destination, but there could be a sea change in this thinking if they studied, interned or worked there.”     [FULL  STORY

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/09
By: Jeffrey Wu and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) Internet giant Google denied on Monday a report that the company is facing

Inside Google’s Data center in Changhua. (CNA file photo)

water supply issues in its planned expansion of a data center in central Taiwan’s Changhua County.

Google said in a statement Monday evening that its plan to expand the data centers, opened over two years ago, remains unchanged, and the project is a long-term commitment.

When Google’s data center in Changhua was opened in December 2013, it was the company’s largest facility in Asia with a total investment of US$600 million.

The statement was issued in response to a United Daily News report that the company halted the third phase of the data center project in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park over insufficient water supply.

The report said it would be the second investment setback Changhua County has suffered since Facebook, one of the world’s largest online social networking services, announced last week it was putting on hold a planned data center in Changhua’s Tianjhong Industrial Park.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/08
By: Tien Yu-pin and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. (TWSE) will hold a corporate business

An IoT display. (CNA file photo)

achievement forum next week on the network and communication equipment industry, amid the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT).

The forum will be held May 11 in Taipei, with three listed companies in the communications, Internet and semiconductor sectors having been invited to report on their business achievements, according to the TWSE.

The companies are Accton Technology Corp. (智邦科技, 2345), MediaTek Inc. (聯發科, 2454) and Visual Photonics Epitaxy Co. (全新光電, 2455).

In addition, Welber Chang (張奇), director of the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute under the Institute for Information Industry, will deliver a speech on the prospects of the network and communication equipment industry, the TWSE said.     [FULL  STORY]