Business and Finance

NT$ may be added to US watchlist: central bank

CONCERNS: The bank would act if it noticed currency speculation, the governor said, but he did not comment on a likely trajectory of the NT dollar against the greenback

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 03, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long, left, speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei yesterday, as Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong looks on.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times

The central bank would intervene in the market whenever necessary to help stabilize the New Taiwan dollar, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday, adding that it is concerned Taiwan might be placed on the US watchlist for currency manipulation.

The Control Yuan recently sent letter inquiring about the central bank’s market regulation efforts, Yang told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee on the NT dollar’s appreciation and property price hikes.

“It is the central bank’s top responsibility to stabilize foreign exchanges,” he said.

The central bank has often stepped in toward the end of trading sessions to moderate the NT dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s EVA Air taps facial recognition for passenger boarding

Technology connected with US biometric exit system, allows passengers to forgo boarding passes

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/01
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

EVA Air taps facial recognition for passenger boarding (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — EVA Air announced Tuesday (Dec. 1) the introduction of a facial recognition service that will facilitate passenger boarding starting with flights from San Francisco to Taiwan.

Part of the U.S. Biometric Exit program, the service allows passengers to have their faces scanned at the boarding gates, the data of which will then be matched with that of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the air carrier’s check-in system.

Without the need to scan boarding passes, the service helps minimize overall boarding time. Infants and those with special needs are still required to follow traditional procedures with the assistance of airline personnel, wrote CNA.

According to EVA Air, the company has endeavored to upgrade its services by employing artificial intelligence and other technologies. Meanwhile, the contactless technology involved in the biometric identification system serves to reduce the risk of disease transmission while optimizing human resources.    [FULL  STORY]

Number of furloughed workers up slightly, small firms in focus

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/01/2020
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Frances Huang

CNA file photo

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) The number of furloughed workers in Taiwan rose slightly in the past week, with small and medium-sized businesses seeing the largest increase, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Tuesday.

Data compiled by the MOL showed that the number of workers who reached an agreement with their employers to be placed on unpaid leave programs totaled 11,328 as of Nov. 30., up 394 from the 10,934 recorded on Nov. 23.

In addition, the number of employers on unpaid leave programs increased by 63 from a week earlier to 486, the data indicated.

Speaking to the press, Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉), a specialist in the MOL's Labor Conditions and Equal Employment Division, said that logistics, retail and wholesale owners, and travel agencies saw the number of furloughed workers increasing in the week.    [FULL  STORY]

Manufacturing PMI increases to 61.2

HOLIDAY DEMAND: Customers were upbeat about building inventories after the US presidential election was settled and COVID-19 vaccine trials had positive results

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 02, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Cranes move shipping containers at the Port of Kaohsiung yesterday.
Photo: CNA

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month climbed to 61.2, the fastest advance since March 2017, as all sectors reported an upturn in business on the back of holiday demand and optimism over COVID-19 vaccines, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

The latest PMI data marked a fifth consecutive month of gains, helped by customers in various parts of the world frontloading orders as the COVID-19 pandemic created shipping difficulties, the Taipei-based think tank said.

“Business in sectors previously hit by the pandemic returned to normal, while growth momentum for electronics suppliers accelerated further,” CIER president Chang Chuang-chang (張傳章) told a news conference in Taipei.

PMI figures seek to show the health of the manufacturing industry, with scores above 50 indicating expansion and values below indicating contraction.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan-based Enterprises AP Biosciences and LuminX Novel Cancer Treatments

CISION PR Newswire
Date: Nov 30, 2020
By: AP Biosciences, LuminX 

TAIPEI, Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — In recent years, an increasing number of drugs have been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the United States, encouraging more companies to propose novel cancer treatment solutions. Currently, there are two companies in Taiwan that are accelerating the development of these therapies and provide innovative treatments.

AP Biosciences' target-dependent T-cell activating bi-specific antibodies

AP Biosciences and LuminX Logos

AP Biosciences (APBio) is a discovery-stage immunotherapeutic company developing mono- and bi-specific antibodies for various forms of treatment. One of the company's major products, T-Cube bsAbs, involves bi-specific antibodies that lead T cells to cancer cells. They do so by bridging the T cells to unique antigens found on the surface of cancer cells, resulting in T cell activation which kills the cancer cells.

Unlike many current immune-therapeutic drugs (which activate the immune system to combat cancer cells while inducing a cytokine storm accompanied by strong side effects), APBio's antibody drugs would benefit patients via improved specificity, leading to higher efficacy and a more favourable safety profile.

"T-Cube bi-specific antibodies activate cytotoxic and memory T cells upon binding to targeted cancer cells. In short, we're creating better antibodies for better cures," explained Dr. Jeng Her, CEO of APBio. "In the near term, we see these treatments benefiting patients with liver, kidney, and lung cancers. Superiority in efficacy, safety, and cost is what makes our solutions unique and exciting to the medical community."    [FULL  STORY]

2020 Intelligent Business Innovation Forum and Achievement Performance

Testimony of the Enterprise for Digital Transformation

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/30
By: Taiwan News

The Department of Commerce of the Ministry of Economic Affairs is committed to assisting the Enterprises to transform and upgrade, helping them to master the early opportunities in rapidly changing environment. Today(26th) there is 2020 Intelligent Business Innovation Forum and Performance hosted in NTUH International Convention Center. The main theme is “Insight For Future Intelligent Business Opportunities.” Experts of each field are invited to share experiences, many manufactures demonstrate on-site attracting more than 418 industry-university-research professionals to participate this event.

The achievement performance presents of the Department of Commerce of the Ministry of Economic Affairs cooperated with the Retail Industry and Logistics Industry with applicating Intelligent Technology in the past year: through the "Intelligent Business Lion" marketing platform, to assist retail service providers in precise marketing, connecting 6,911 stores across Taiwan, Driven 98.86 million NT dollars in revenue; on the field of Intelligent Logistics, coached 12 logistics enterprises to use AI and mobile technology, assist 50 companies in the application of Cold Chain temperature control technolog and facilitate cooperation with 21 domestic and foreign logistics enterprises to successfully improve storage, transportation, distribution efficiency and lower the management costs, also support the sales of products to overseas such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, and Japan.

In the breakout forums, there are the Service Systems Technology Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan Cold Chain Association, AQUASTAR H2O and iAmech Technology that discuss new trends in logistics technology, the National Southbound Policy Cold Chain Team, the information and logistics of Cross-Border Ecommerce, Intelligent Warehousing and other related topics; in Retail field, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Reddoor Media, Far Eastern Big City, Liang Shing EcLife share the idea about the turning point of the Intelligent Retail during the coronavirus crisis, marketing technology, AI Intelligent Retail Personal Shopping System and technology trends in retail; additionally, in the field of Service Innovation, there are Hi-Life International, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, G-das Technology and Yallvend sharing the ideas about the new trends of Logistics Automation for Retail, the future of In-Store Pick Up, the applications of intelligent Pick Up, intelligent vending machine related hot topics.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares tumble before MSCI downgrade goes into effect

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/30/2020
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan took a beating Monday, ending sharply lower after expanded turnover and giving up earlier gains, with selling escalating in the late trading session ahead of Taiwan's weighting in three MSCI Inc. indexes being reduced later in the day, dealers said.

Selling focused on large cap stocks, in particular in the bellwether electronics sector, while select old economy and financial stocks also came under pressure, pushing the broader market down further by the end of the session, they said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) or the Taiex ended down 144.20 points, or 1.04 percent, at the day's low of 13,722.89, after coming off a high of 13,969,39, on turnover of NT$383.58 billion (US$13.32 billion), the highest in the history of the local equity market.

The market opened up 0.36 percent and soon rose to the day's high with investors encouraged by the all-time high on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, which rose 0.9 percent Friday, to pick up large electronics stocks, dealers said.    [FULL  STORY]

GlobalWafers close to Siltronic deal

FIVE NEW FABS: An acquisition of Siltronic would boost GlobalWafers’ market share from 17 to 30 percent, easily surpassing Japanese rival Sumco’s 25 percent

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 01, 2020
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

GlobalWafers Co chairperson Doris Hsu holds a silicon wafer at a media gathering at the Hsinchu Science Park on Sept. 24, 2015.
Photo: CNA

GlobalWafers Inc (環球晶圓) yesterday said it is in final talks to acquire Germany-based Siltronic AG in a 3.75 billion euro (US$4.5 billion) deal, which might help it compete with its closest rival Sumco Corp of Japan.

The acquisition would be the fifth for GlobalWafers since 2008, as it has grown to become the world’s No. 3 supplier of silicon wafers through such deals.

GlobalWafers, which has a 17 percent market share, would see its market position greatly elevated to 30 percent when combined with Siltronic’s 13 percent, according to a presentation Siltronic gave to its investors at a quarterly conference in August.

Sumco has a 25 percent share, tracking behind the world’s top supplier of silicon wafers Shin-Etsu Chemical Co’s 33 percent, Munich-based Siltronic has said.    [FULL  STORY]

Görlach Global: Will Singapore or Taiwan replace Hong Kong as Asia’s financial hub?

If Hong Kong ends up being just another Chinese megacity it will lose its role as a leading financial center. Alexander Görlach looks at whether Taiwan or Singapore could serve as alternatives.

DW
Date: 26.11.2020    

The People's Republic of China has maintained its frontal attack on the technically independent city of Hong Kong. On Monday, prominent members of the pro-democracy Demosisto movement — including Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam — were arrested. A court is expected to decide their fate next week. 

Demosisto had disbanded in July after Beijing introduced a national security law which effectively labeled pro-democracy campaigning in Hong Kong a crime. Beijing has not shied away from kidnapping pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and in light of such political developments the island could forfeit its position as an important global financial center.

Both Singapore and Taiwan could take Hong Kong's place, with the former perhaps having a head start since it is already an important financial hub in Asia. But this de facto one-party state is also far from being a democracy: Here too, rights activists can also be jailed for very little. 

In March, 40-year-old activist Jolovan Wham, who has primarily defended the rights of migrant workers in Singapore, was arrested by authorities for standing on a street corner and holding up piece of cardboard with a smiley face scrawled on it.    [FULL  STORY]

Number of atypical workers sees 1st drop in 9 years

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/26/2020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Evelyn Kao

CNA file photo

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) The number of people in atypical employment in May dropped by 20,000 from a year earlier, the first fall in nine years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an annual survey released Thursday by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The total number of employees in Taiwan stood at 11.462 million in May, down by 22,000 from the same period last year, as the job market was severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the survey showed.

Of the total, 10.663 million were full-time employees, down 2,000 from a year ago, while the number of atypical workers dropped by 20,000 year-on-year, according to report.

The huge decline in the number of atypical workers — who have no fixed term of employment, including part-time workers, outsourced workers and workers on temporary contracts — is because they have suffered most from the impact of COVID-19, said Chen Hui-hsin (陳惠欣), deputy chief of the DGBAS's Department of Census.    [FULL  STORY]