Business and Finance

Gogoro smartscooters hit Taiwan market

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/25
By: Lillian Lin

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) The first shipment of some 400 pre-ordered Gogoro smartscooters was 201507250009t0001delivered Saturday and the customer who got the serial number 0001 said he would share with friends the experience of riding the locally developed electric motorbike.

After allowing interested people to try the scooter in April, the Taiwanese company began taking pre-orders between June 27 and July 24, and officially launched the electric scooter July 25.

Priced at between NT$128,000 (around US$4,266) and NT$138,000, the Gogoro smartscooter is more expensive than most other electric motorbikes on the market. In addition, buyers are required to pay a monthly fee of NT$899 (US$28.9) for an unlimited battery-swap service.

A man who imports electric vehicles purchased the first Gogoro scooter, which has the serial number 0001. The buyer said he would tell his friends what it is like to ride the locally developed electric bike.     [FULL  STORY]

Foreign brokerage cuts target price on two telecom stocks

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-25
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) A European brokerage on Saturday cut its target price on shares of Taiwan’s two major telecom operators, citing the fact that they are going ex-dividend, which has sent their share prices lower. The brokerage, whose name cannot be reported under Taiwan’s regulations, said in a research note, however, that it was maintaining its “buy” recommendation on shares of Taiwan Mobile Co. and its “neutral” rating on shares of Chunghwa Telecom Co. .

Taiwan Mobile and Chunghwa Telecom are set to issue NT$5.6 (US$0.18) and NT$4.9 in cash dividends, respectively, for 2014. Taiwan Mobile went ex-dividend on June 26, with its reference opening price that day cut by NT$5.6 from the previous closing level to NT$101.90.

Chunghwa Telecom went ex-dividend on July 16, with its reference opening price cut by NT$4.9 from the previous closing level to NT$93.30. On Friday, shares of Taiwan Mobile closed up 1.97 percent at NT$103.50, still shy of the June 25 closing level of NT$107.50. Shares of Chunghwa Telecom ended up 0.10 percent at NT$95.50, below the July 15 closing level of NT$98.20. The brokerage has lowered its target price on Taiwan Mobile shares to NT$115 from NT$120, and cut its target price on Chunghwa Telecom shares to NT$90 from NT$91.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to join WTO’s new IT accord

Want China Post
Date: 2015-07-25
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Saturday that Taiwan is expected to join a

A headphone store in Taipei, Nov. 11, 2012. (File photo/Wang Yuan-mao)

A headphone store in Taipei, Nov. 11, 2012. (File photo/Wang Yuan-mao)

newly concluded information technology agreement by the World Trade Organization (WTO) after it completes a consultation process with local industrial associations next week.

A total of 54 WTO members, including Taiwan, reached an IT agreement in Geneva Friday to allow a wide range of high-tech devices valued at about US$1.3 billion a year to enjoy tariff-free status. The IT agreement is the first update to the WTO’s trade accord in 18 years.

However, Taiwan is one of the five countries that did not sign the agreement, although the country is one of the 54 participating WTO members to conclude the deal.

During the negotiations, Taiwan had insisted that flat panels should be included into the tariff-free status as flat screens are one of the country’s major IT exports. But Taiwan failed to persuade other negotiating participants to include flat panels into the agreement so it did not sign the new IT agreement.     [FULL  STORY]

Home prices in Taiwan forecast to drop 10% annually

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/25
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Residential property prices in Taiwan are likely to fall by an annual 5-10 201507250012t0001percent over the next two years due to a supply glut and weakening affordability, according to a research report.

Taiwan Ratings, a local partner of U.S.-based Standard & Poor’s, said in the report dated June 23 that Taiwan’s property market is expected to encounter downside risks, reversing its sustained growth over the past five years.

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, home prices in Taiwan have increased by an average 90 percent, driven by strong speculative buying, the ratings agency said.

As a result, the high-flying home prices have become increasingly unaffordable to people in Taiwan, which in turn has caused a decline in local property transactions, Taiwan Ratings said. This situation has set the stage for a correction in residential property prices, the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

China makers gain upper hand over Taiwan rivals in IoT orders

DIGITIMES
Date: Friday 24 July 2015
By: Aaron Lee, Taipei; Steve Shen

Many Silicon Valley-based startups have chosen makers in Shenzhen, China, instead of Taiwan-based ODMs, for production of hardware devices for IoT (Internet of Things) applications, according to sources in Taiwan’s notebook supply chain.

The newly established startups are more willing to deal with small-scale makers in Shenzhen because they accept orders for multiple models in small volumes, while Taiwan makers have been focusing on large volume orders, indicated the sources.

The flexibility in production plus government support has made Shenzhen a major production base for the development of hardware related to IoT applications, commented the sources.

Kai-Fu Lee, founder of China-based Innovation Works, has also revealed that he has met with a number of startups in Silicon-Valley recently, but none of them have approached Taiwan makers for hardware production because their order quantities were rather limited, totaling several thousand or several tens of thousands of units only.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan convenience stores appeal to overseas visitors: Skyscanner

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02015/07/24
By: S.F. Wong and Lillian Lin

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Foreign nationals visiting Taiwan appreciate the easy access to 201507240033t0001convenience stores in almost every corner of Taiwan in both cities and remote villages, a global travel information search engine said Friday in releasing the results of its latest study.

Overseas visitors said they were amazed by the stores’ many functions, including as grocery stores, snack bars, and banking outlets, according to Skyscanner, citing a study on international travel trends it conducted recently.

Some other of the country’s features that have proven attractive to international visitors are Taiwan’s natural beauty, modern commercial districts and special features such as night markets, said Skyscanner’s sales manager for Taiwan and Hongkong.     [FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung Museum of Labor opens Saturday

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-24
By: Central News Agency

Kaohsiung, July 24 (CNA) The Kaohsiung Museum of Labor will present exhibitions showcasing the evolution of the labor force in this industrial city, Taiwan’s labor movement, and newly developed animation, comics and video games sectors when it opens on Saturday.

The Kaohsiung municipal government said Friday that the new museum, the first of its kind in Taiwan, will inform people about Kaohsiung’s role as a leading industrial city in Taiwan and the workers who have contributed to the island’s industrialization.

For nearly a century, Kaohsiung and its surrounding area have been home to early 20th century ship-breaking yards, state-run shipbuilding, petrochemical and steel plants, and Taiwan’s first export processing zone set up in 1966.     [FULL  STORY]

State-invested shipbuilder signs deal to build four container ships

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/24
By: Wei Shu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) The CSBC Corp., Taiwan, a government-invested shipbuilder headquartered in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, signed a contract Friday to construct four 1,800 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container vessels.

The deal is particularly precious for CSBC amid a lasting recession in most economies around the world, during which purchases of new boats are rarely seen in almost all business fields. Even when such deals are agreed upon, they are mostly orders for super-large container ships rather the smaller feeder vessels, the company said.

According to CSBC, in which the government holds a stake of around 30 percent, the buyer is Taipei-based T.S. Lines, which provides near-sea shipping services.     [FULL  STORY]

TWSE stresses cooperation with other exchanges

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2015
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s main stock exchange will seek to improve the local capital market by collaborating with its Asian counterparts, a Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE, 台灣證券交易所) executive said yesterday.

“Taiwan’s annual capital outflow is estimated at about NT$2 trillion [US$63 billion] annually,” TWSE president Michael Lin (林火燈) said at a press conference after the Asian Exchange Forum in Taipei.

Representatives from 10 Asian countries’ stock exchanges — including Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore — attended the forum, which was organized by the TWSE.     [FULL  STORY]

HTC tops list of smartphones sold in Taiwan for June

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-23
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) Taiwan-based HTC Corp. (???) took first place in terms of sales volume of smartphones sold in Taiwan in June, industrial sources said Thursday. According to the sources, HTC accounted for 19.3 percent of total smartphone sales of 640,000 units in the country in June, ahead of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. with 18.6 percent and Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc. with 17.9 percent.

U.S.-based Apple Inc. came in fourth, with a 16.9 percent market share of Taiwan’s smartphone market in June, followed by Japan’s Sony Corp. with 8.7 percent. In June, Taiwan’s smartphone sales volume fell about 10 percent from a month earlier, the sources said. In terms of sales value, Apple topped the Taiwan smartphone sales list in June due to the higher price tags carried by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The U.S. firm took a 41.4 percent share of the market, the sources said. Samsung was second in terms of sales value with a 19.9 percent share, ahead of HTC with 14.2 percent, Sony with 9.3 percent and Austek with 8.5 percent, the sources said.     [FULL  STORY]