Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-29
By: Bernie Chiu and Lilian Wu, Central News Agency

Nearly 90 percent of office workers are not hopeful of getting a raise next year and are thinking of working an extra part-time job to bolster their income, a survey by an online human resources company has found. According to the results of a 1111 Job Bank survey released Tuesday, up to 85 percent of respondents felt they would feel the pinch financially in the short term heading into the new year.

Respondents attributed their short-term financial woes to spending more than they earned or waiting for year-end bonuses (29.2 percent), needing to prepare red envelopment money (19.9 percent), or having been laid off or been put on unpaid leave (14.2 percent).

With 88.8 percent of respondents saying they had no hope of getting a raise next year, 84 percent hoped to find part-time work during the New Year or Chinese New Year holidays, 25 percentage points higher than at the same time last year.     [FULL  STORY]

CENTRALIZATION:Inventec said it expects the transaction to complete in March and it expects to transfer its server business to the building in the second quarter of next year

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 30, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said it is to sell a plot of land and a building in Taoyuan to Inventec Corp (英業達) for NT$6.06 billion (US$183.46 million) as part of its efforts to lower operational costs and boost efficiency.

The local smartphone maker said the production facilities and its employees would be transferred to HTC’s three other properties in Taoyuan to centralize its production facilities.

“The sale of the land and building will not affect HTC’s production capacity or shipping schedules,” an HTC investor relations officer said by telephone.

The officer said the transaction also has no implications for HTC’s operations or headcount.     [FULL  STORY]

RISING COMPETITION:The chip designer expects to continue posting a profit next year, but growth may be affected by competition from Qualcomm and Spreadtrum

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it expects its mobile chip shipments to grow by a low double-digit-percentage at best next year, backed by rising demand for 4G chips in emerging markets such as India.

However, MediaTek, which mainly supplies chips to Chinese phone brands, including Huawei Technologies Co (華為), said that intensifying competition from Qualcomm Inc and Spreadtrum Communications Co (展訊通信) would undermine its profitability next year and drive its profit growth to the slowest in three years.

“As [price] competition will continue to be stiff in 2016, gross margins will be under even more pressure compared with this year,” MediaTek vice chairman and president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told a media briefing.     [FULL  STORY]

FRIDAY DEADLINE:Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng had predicted that a key breakthrough would occur before the end of the month, but a source said that is unlikely

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 28, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

There is unlikely to be a breakthrough in the negotiation on a cross-strait trade in goods agreement before the end of the year, as the two sides have differences on tariff reductions, a Ministry of Economic Affairs source said yesterday.

“We previously thought we could hold the 13th round of formal talks on the pact in the middle or before the end of this month, but the closer we got to the scheduled dates, the more we found out that both Taiwan and China still could not make a concession on core issues in a short period of time,” a source in the Bureau of Foreign Trade, who is familiar with the negotiation progress, told the Taipei Times.

The source said the ministry has not set a time frame for the next round of talks.     [FULL STORY]

Taiwan Newas
Date: 2015-12-26
By: Jalen Chung and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest contract electronics maker, has proposed to spend 300 billion Japanese yen (US$2.5 billion) to acquire financially struggling Japan-based electronics firm Sharp Corp., according to Japan’s Kyodo News.

The report posted by the Japanese news outlet Friday said that the proposed acquisition price is about 50 percent higher than Sharp’s current market value, indicating that Hon Hai wants to use the good offer to gain the upper hand and win consensus from the Japanese firm during negotiations for the acquisition.

According to the report, while Hon Hai, known as Foxconn outside Taiwan, has proposed to acquire Sharp at such a high premium, the Taiwanese firm requires the current management of Sharp, including Sharp President Kozo Takahashi, to step down.      [FULL  STORY]