FAVORABLE EXCHANGE:With the advancement of payment systems in Taiwan’s street markets and retailers from cash to electronic, Chinese tourists look set to make gains

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 19, 2015
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) and Alipay (支付寶) yesterday launched a joint cross-border payment service catering to Chinese tourists, who have grown accustomed to using mobile payments over online-to-offline (O2O) platforms.

Alipay, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), is the world’s largest mobile payment service provider with 400 million users. It processes more than 120 million transactions daily, accounting for about 80 percent of the market in China.

“In addition to regulations and technology, user behavior is the most important factor affecting the proliferation of new payment methods, and we are happy to make the familiar and convenient service available for Chinese visitors during their stay in Taiwan,” E.Sun Financial president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said at a launch event in Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

PROMISING PROSPECTS:Hon Hai is expanding into the financial market under its trading name, Foxconn, in a bid to be more than a contract manufacturer of handsets

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 19, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) is reportedly to set up six financial services companies in China to extend its reach into the financial sector.

A Foxconn executive familiar with the matter, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the Foxconn Financial Service Platform has been providing loans and other financing services to electronics component suppliers in China over the past year.

The platform has two offices, in Beijing and Shanghai, said the executive, who declined to be named.

Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) in Taiwan, is the main assembler for Apple Inc’s iPhones and Xiaomi Corp’s (小米) handsets.

Foxconn is upbeat about the financial services business in China, the executive said, adding that Foxconn knows the electronics suppliers’ business better than others.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-16
By: Jocylin FC, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Ministry of Labor published statistics on unpaid leaves on November 16. The most recent data has shown that the total number of unpaid leaves has jumped to 5,292.

Government official said that the number of companies who reported this month has increased to 45 and the unpaid leaves have increased by 4,074 people within a month. The rampant financial situation in the technology sector has contributed the most to the data of unpaid leaves.

On November 10, a manufacturer of display devices Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd reported 2,515 employees are on unpaid leaves while four other technology companies reported within the range of 200 to 400 employees are now on unpaid leaves. The manufacturing sector is the second largest contributor to the data of unpaid leaves.     [FULL  STORY]

FOOTHOLD:The acquisition is to help the Taiwanese company expand into the Internet of Things business and gain a firmer grip on the US and European markets

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 17, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Advantech Co Ltd (研華), the nation’s biggest industrial computer maker, yesterday said it plans to acquire a US industrial networking company for about US$1 million in cash in to boost its position in the global Internet of Things market.

Advantech said it has signed an agreement with private equity fund Graham Partners to take over B+B SmartWorx Inc, a private company with an annual revenue of about US$55 million.

This is the latest and the biggest acquisition by Advantech in its drive to seek new growth.

Advantech formed a task force five years ago to seek potential acquisition targets that would aid long-term expansion, it said.

“We have been searching for acquisition targets to expand our Internet of Things business… Taking over B+B SmartWorx would be a crucial step for the company in its expansion into the market,” Advantech president Chaney Ho (何春盛) told a media briefing.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-15
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) Facing the increasing threat from China’s emerging “red supply chain” — the fast-growing cluster of high-tech components cultivated by the Chinese government — Taiwan’s semiconductor industry must collaborate with Chinese companies to stay afloat, Taiwanese industry representatives said Sunday. Chinese state-owned chip maker Tsinghua Unigroup has reached a deal to acquire a 25 percent stake in Taiwan’s Powertech Technology (??), becoming the Taiwanese chip packaging and testing company’s biggest shareholder.

Meanwhile, Tsinghua Unigroup Chairman Zhao Weiguo said that if Taiwan’s government opens its doors wider, Tsinghua Unigroup would like its affiliates, Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics, both of which are leading fabless semiconductor companies, to merge with MediaTek Inc., one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit designers.

The development has again brought the “red supply chain” issue to the attention of the industry. Nicky Lu, director-general of the Taiwan Semiconductor I ndustry Association (TSIA, said that Taiwan should encourage the industry to strengthen product design, as well as talent development and retention, to improve its competitiveness. Wu teng-iu, CEO of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE), the world’s largest integrated circuit packaging and testing firm, also said Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers should adapt to the rise of the “red supply chain” by creating new values of their own.     [FULL  STORY]