Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-18
By: CNA

Singaporean budget carrier Scoot announced Friday that it will launch non-stop flights to

Kaohsiung three times a week beginning on July 9.

Kaohsiung will be the airline’s second Taiwanese destination, as Scoot currently provides 10 flights per week to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the main gateway to Taiwan, which is located some 45 kilometers away from downtown Taipei.

“Singaporeans simply love Taiwan, but there’s so much more to Taiwan than just Taipei,” Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson said in a statement.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/18
By: Lo Hsiu-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Several foreign brokerages have raised their target prices on shares of Largan Precision Co. (大立光) after the smartphone camera lens supplier reported a higher-than-expected gross margin for the first quarter of this year.

Credit Suisse is one of the foreign brokerages which have been upbeat about Largan’s earnings prospects. Credit Suisse said that Largan will continue to take advantage of its lead over its peers in high-end camera lens production technology to secure a high gross margin.

The European brokerage has raised a target price on Largan shares to NT$3,280 (US$105) from NT$2,940, while leaving an “outperform” rating on the stock.     [FULL  STORY]

Forbes
By: Aaron Tilley000

Horace Luke wanted to be the first person in Taiwan with a Tesla Model S when the gorgeous

electric sedan debuted in 2012. Luke, the former chief innovation officer at smartphone maker HTC, is obsessed with beauty and function in all things. But his beloved Teslas were not sold in Taiwan (and still aren’t). He thought about importing one, but his girlfriend finally talked him out of it. With no home garage to charge it in, he’d have to juice it at the office and thus wouldn’t have use of it on the weekends.

Teslas and other electric sedans may be gaining ground in the U.S., where roomy garages are the norm, but Asia’s booming urban centers present a hostile environment for the clean car revolution. The cost of a Tesla is way out of the reach of the masses, and for the rising middle class in cramped apartment towers there are few good places to charge the cars, let alone park them.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 17, 2015
By: Amy Su  /  Staff reporter, in Kaohsiung

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), the nation’s second-largest container shipper

in terms of fleet scale, yesterday launched the service of its first 14,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) vessel in Kaohsiung Harbor.

The YM Wish (登明輪) is currently the largest container ship in its fleet, with the company set to take delivery of another 14 vessels by the end of next year through a lease deal inked with Seaspan Corp — a Canada-based independent container ship owner.

“The introduction of these new vessels will help the company upgrade its fleet,” Yang Ming chairman Frank Lu (盧峰海) told reporters at a ceremony to mark the ship’s maiden voyage.

With lower operational costs and more efficient energy usage, the 15 new vessels could help the company save up to NT$6 billion (US$191.98 million) annually in the future, with total savings this year expected to reach NT$2 billion, Lu said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/16
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) EVA Airways, one of Taiwan’s leading international carriers, said

Thursday it will add more flights to its Taiwan-Singapore route starting June 21 to expand its transit services to Southeast Asian countries.

The number of those transferring between Southeast Asia and North America via Taiwan has grown by 40 percent compared with the same period last year, the airline said.

EVA said it hopes the service expansion can elevate its market presence in the area, adding that it will use a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft decorated with the popular Japanese cartoon character Hello Kitty to boost ridership.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/15
By: Jeffrey Wu

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. (聯發科), a major supplier of handset chips to Chinese manufacturers, said Wednesday that Vice Chairman Cho Jyh-jer (卓志哲) will retire June 12.

MediaTek did not reveal a successor to Cho in its statement. A representative of MediaTek told CNA that the company has no plans currently to name a successor to Cho, and said the issue will be discussed by a new board of directors to be elected at an annual general shareholders’ meeting June 12.

Cho, who was promoted to his current position in 2005 to focus on new products and strategic planning, said in the statement that MediaTek has “a wealth of talent” and “a healthy organization,” which will lead the company to gain further strong growth momentum.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-15
By: Staff Reporter

After lagging behind its rivals in chip development for mobile devices, US chipmaker Intel

has been gearing up to assign more resources to enter the low- to mid-range mobile communications chip turf by joining forces with Chinese counterparts, Guangzhou’s 21st Century Business Herald reports.

In turn, a move by Intel to cooperate with Spreadtrum Communications and Fuzhou Rockchips Electronics is expected to help the two Chinese integrated circuit designers take on competition from Taiwan-based counterpart MediaTek in the mobile communications chip market.

On April 13, Intel launched a chip model in Hong Kong in conjunction with Rockchips, which specializes in developing chips for tablet computers in China. The chip was the first model on which the two partners had worked together.     [FULL  STORY]