Overall operations did not suffer major impact: Foxconn

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Foxconn Technology Group confirmed media reports Tuesday (Dec. 8) that a plant in Mexico faced a ransomware attack, though the impact on the iPhone maker’s operations was limited.

The incident occurred around Nov. 29 during the Thanksgiving weekend at Foxconn CTBG MX in Ciudad Juárez, a factory that assembles and ships electronics equipment all over the Americas, according to the website BleepingComputer.

A ransomware group known as “DoppelPaymer” reportedly stole unencrypted Foxconn files before encrypting devices and demanding a ransom of US$34.6 million (NT$979 million) to be paid in bitcoin. Data leaked on the DoppelPaymer site included “generic business documents and reports but does not contain any financial information” or employees’ personal data, BleepingComputer reported.

The same group has claimed responsibility for ransomware attacks on a variety of targets worldwide, including Taiwanese laptop maker Compal Electronics last month.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/08/2020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Kay Liu

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.09 percent in November from a year earlier, boosted by surging prices of vegetables and plane tickets, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported Tuesday.

This is the first year-on-year growth of the index, which has seen nine consecutive months of decline, since February, due the COVID-19 pandemic and dropping crude oil prices, according to the DGBAS.

An 11.41 percent rise in vegetable prices from last year and a 21.71 percent rise in plane ticket prices boosted the overall index by 0.43 percentage points, said DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) during a press conference held to release the statistics.

Fuel prices and sales launched by the hospitality sector to attract customers still dragged the index down, he said, although the impact waned.    [FULL  STORY]

Academia Sinica’s campus in Tainan to host quantum lab

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/07
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will invest NT$8 billion (US$282 million) in the development of quantum technology in the coming five years with a view to becoming a tech hub that boasts more than semiconductor manufacturing prowess.

The initiative will focus on quantum devices, quantum computers, quantum algorithms, and quantum communication technologies, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).   [FULL  STORY]

RISING DEMAND: Exports in the first 11 months of the year rose 4.2 percent year-on-year on the back of robust demand for new technology applications, an official said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Taiwan’s exports last month expanded 12 percent from a year earlier to US$31.99 billion, accelerating from an 11.2 percent hike in October, as local firms are seeing the biggest-ever boom in demand for technology products, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

The healthy showing came ahead of the holiday season, and momentum could gain further traction this month with an estimated annual increase of 7 to 9 percent, the ministry said.

“This time around, the high season might prove the strongest in history by measure of export volume [and] is bound to beat the forecast last month by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a news conference in Taipei.

In the first 11 months of this year, cumulative exports grew 4.2 percent from a year earlier to US$312.29 billion, surpassing the 3.8 percent increase the statistics agency projected for the whole of this year, Tsai said, linking the boon to insatiable demand for new technology applications, as well as remote working and schooling.    [FULL  STORY]

Airline Geeks
Date: December 6, 2020
By: Albert Kuan

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 777F cargo jet on Tuesday. Upon arrival at Taipei’s Taoyuan Airport, however, the cargo jet was not carrying China Airlines’ normal livery, but instead, it featured a nearly blank livery. The carrier’s name only appears in small font near the cargo jet’s empennage.

Taiwanese media and close sources with the airline have confirmed that the Taiwanese carrier has plans to display Taiwan-related symbols on its fuselage as part of Taiwan’s efforts to draw a clearer distinction between Taiwan and China. The aircraft, registered B-18771, was the first of six 777Fs ordered by China Airlines and will replace its older fleet of Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft being flown on routes to Europe and North America.

According to Taiwanese media, China Airlines reportedly has intentions to display its name in a smaller font and replace its entire fleet livery with Taiwan-themed images to avoid confusion with Chinese airlines. The airline has often been confused with Air China — the Chinese government-owned carrier — at international destinations. On diplomatic missions, and when delivering Taiwan’s donations of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline was often mistaken for being associated with China.

Although China Airlines has declined to make public its plans to redesign the aircraft livery, saying only that the information would be made available at the proper time, it responded to inquiries about the blank aircraft fuselage. The airline explained that the Boeing 777F freighter aircraft is still in the flight test phase and that its new appearance would be revealed to the public later.

FRAUD CASE REACTION: From next year, public accountants must audit the financial statements of foreign-registered companies every six months as opposed to annually

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2020
By:. Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to strictly supervise foreign-registered Taiwanese companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange after Tony Huang (黃文烈), the former chairman of Cayman Islands-registered Pharmally International Holding Co (康友製藥), was indicted for allegedly colluding with Chinese businesspeople to falsify accounts and financial statements.

In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the commission said that it is scheduled to brief lawmakers on its measures to supervise the management of so-called “KY stocks” at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee today.

KY stocks refer to overseas Taiwanese businesses with a primary listing on the nation’s main board.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange on Aug. 18 suspended trading of Pharmally shares pending the company’s second-quarter financial statement and the results of the investigation into Huang, who disappeared on Aug. 6 and is reportedly in Singapore.    [FULL STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/05/2020
By: Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Largan Precision Co., a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc., reported its second highest monthly sales this year in November, up about 2 percent from a month earlier, with market analysts attributing the growth to the launch of the new iPhone 12 models in October.

In a statement, Largan said it posted NT$5.24 billion (US$184 million) in consolidated sales in November, the 2nd highest this year after NT$5.44 billion in March, and up 2 percent from NT$5.14 billion seen in October.

However, November sales were down 21 percent from a year earlier, and analysts said the decline largely reflected a loss of orders from China's smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Inc., which faced sanctions imposed by the United States in mid-September.

Largan said although its clients have brought new products to market, the COVID-19 pandemic has still impacted the global market, prompting some clients to cut orders, which resulted in the moderate month-on-month sales increase in November despite the presence of the latest iPhones.    [FULL  STORY]