Business and Finance

Winners of Taiwan Excellence Awards unveiled

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/01
By: Taiwan Today , Agencies

(Taiwan Today photo)

The winners of the 28th Taiwan Excellence Awards were unveiled Nov. 27 by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), with 30 homegrown brands honored for technological innovation.

A total of 418 products were selected from a 1,131-strong field submitted by 529 firms. All outperformed in the main categories of design, local manufacturing, marketing, quality and R&D, earning the right to use the Taiwan Excellence trademark.

The 10 gold winners are a mechanical arm wireless interactive visualizer by AVer Information Inc.; smart monitoring system, Buffalo Machinery Co. Ltd.; wirelessly powered e-paper display, E Ink Holdings Inc.; Datorker robot reducer, Hiwin Technologies Corp.; 5.99-inch full-screen display with ultra-narrow down border; Innolux Corp.; EvO Altus wheelchair, Karma Medical Products Co. Ltd.; ImplantMax for guided implantation, Saturn Imaging Inc.; Rockbook notebook series, Taiwan Lung Meng Advanced Composite Materials Co. Ltd.; Caduceus smart surgical glasses, Taiwan Main Orthopedic Biotechnology Co. Ltd.; and digi-optical 3D Printer, Young Optics Inc.
[FULL  STORY]

Wistron to buy industrial land in Vietnam

MOVING PIECES: Compared with the electronics manufacturer’s site in the Philippines, the lot in Ha Nam Province might offer better logistics and labor, Credit Suisse said

Taiopei Times
Date: Dec 02, 2019
By: Chen Cheng-hui  /  Staff reporter

Contract electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp (緯創) last week said that it plans to purchase land in Vietnam, as the company continues to gradually shift production to Taiwan, India and the Philippines to diversify risk.

The 232,087.74m2 lot the company aims to secure is in the Dong Van III Industrial Zone in Ha Nam Province in northern Vietnam, Wistron said in a regulatory filing.

The transaction would total 337.4 billion dong (US$14.6 million), Wistron said.

The company did not provide additional details on the purchase, which remains subject to approval by the board of directors at a meeting next month.    [FULL  STORY]

Core Pacific City mall closes doors, attracting 100,000 people

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/30
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) The Core Pacific City mall in Taipei welcomed some 100,000 customers to its establishment Saturday, the last day of business after 18 years.

The iconic granite-clad building on Bade Road, also known as the Living Mall, closed for good Saturday night and will be torn down to make way for a new office complex.

The Core Pacific Group (CPG), the owner of the shopping plaza, said many customers came to the mall one last time to take selfies as a form of memorabilia, participate in prize drawings and take advantage of big discounts on products.

When Core Pacific first opened in November 2001 in Taipei's Songshan District, it was said to be the biggest shopping mall in Taiwan at the time, with 62,000 pings (204,600 square meters) of floor space — 12 stories above ground and eight levels underground.    [FULL  STORY]

Private investment boosts GDP

NEW ENERGY PROJECTS: State-owned enterprises would lend support with a 16.91 percent increase in investment next year, led by Taipower and CPC, the DGBAS said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 30, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The economy expanded 2.99 percent year-on-year last quarter and could accelerate to 3.04 percent growth this quarter, as trade rerouting and 5G technology facilitated an increase in private investment, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

Private investment, which rose 4.79 percent year-on-year during the third quarter, could register 7.61 percent growth this year, the fastest in seven years, as global technology companies seek to tap new 5G-related business with help from local chipmakers, IC designers and other critical component suppliers, the agency said.

That prompted the agency to raise its forecast for GDP growth this year to 2.64 percent and 2.72 percent for next year, up from 2.46 percent and 2.58 percent growth it forecast in August.

“It is difficult to separate contributions from supply chain realignment and 5G deployment if such breakdown is necessary or meaningful,” DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Microsoft Taiwan unveils new AI technology

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 29 November, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

HoloLens from Microsoft Taiwan (Photo by Yang Wen-jun)

Microsoft Taiwan held an exhibition on Friday to unveil its latest AI technology.

The technology is not just novel- it’s fun. The AI has learned traditional fortune-telling techniques and can analyze a person’s personality and fortune with just a snapshot of their face. It examines the space between the eyes, the size of the nose, and the thickness of the eyebrows, just like a real fortune teller.    [FULL  STORY]

Hong Kong tycoon to give away HK$1 billion in business aid

Li Ka-shing insists recipients will not have to worry about debt or interest payments

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/29
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) will spend HK$1 billion (NT$3.89 billion, US$127

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. (AP photo)

million) on Hong Kong, but insists there will be no need to pay him the money back, reports said Friday (November 29).

Applications from small businesses for the subsidies have already started, the China Times reported. Li wants to help enterprises which have been hurt by the months of protests, resulting in falling tourism and shrinking public consumption.

Each entity could apply to receive a maximum of HK$50,000 under the plan by the territory’s wealthiest person, while stallholders with a business operation license could receive up to HK$5,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Average monthly salary in Taiwan nearly NT$40,000: DGBAS

Focus Taiwan
Date:2019/11/28
By: Flor Wang and Pan Tzu-yu

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) Employees in Taiwan, including part-time workers, on average earned a regular salary of NT$39,191 (US$1,285) in May, the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported Thursday.

The number who received a monthly salary of less than NT$30,000 in May dropped to 2.994 million, while those who earned more than NT$50,000 rose to 1.815 million, accounting for 32.8 percent and 19.88 percent, respectively, of all employees, the DGBAS report showed.

In May, a total of 437,000 people were unemployed, with 72.42 percent citing "pay lower than expectations" as the major reason, followed by 11.43 percent who pointed to "unsatisfactory work locations," according to the report.

The 72.42 percent dissatisfied with salaries offered represents a large increase on the 64.3 percent recorded a year ago, indicating a growing gap between the salaries employers are willing to pay and those expected by employees, said Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨), deputy director of the Census Department under the DGBAS.    [FULL  STORY]

Private investment boosts GDP

NEW ENERGY PROJECTS: State-owned enterprises would lend support with a 16.91 percent increase in investment next year, led by Taipower and CPC, the DGBAS said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 30, 2019
By Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The economy expanded 2.99 percent year-on-year last quarter and could accelerate to 3.04 percent growth this quarter, as trade rerouting and 5G technology facilitated an increase in private investment, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

Private investment, which rose 4.79 percent year-on-year during the third quarter, could register 7.61 percent growth this year, the fastest in seven years, as global technology companies seek to tap new 5G-related business with help from local chipmakers, IC designers and other critical component suppliers, the agency said.

That prompted the agency to raise its forecast for GDP growth this year to 2.64 percent and 2.72 percent for next year, up from 2.46 percent and 2.58 percent growth it forecast in August.

“It is difficult to separate contributions from supply chain realignment and 5G deployment if such breakdown is necessary or meaningful,” DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

11 top tech CEOs selected as new board of directors for Taiwan’s top biomedical agency

Former Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey has been elected as the new president for the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/27
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry (IBMI) hosted a re-election for the board of directors on Tuesday (Nov. 26), with a record of 11 tech CEOs elected as directors.

The newly-elected board of directed are Quanta Computer Chairman Barry Lam (林百里), Wistron Chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘), Pegatron Chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), Catcher Technology Chairman Hung Shui-shu (洪水樹), Healthconn Corp. CEO Leonard Wu (洪水樹), TOPCO Chairman J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), Qisda Technology CEO Chen Chi-hong (陳其宏), Powerchip Tech CEO Frank Huang, Realtek Semiconductor Yeh Po-ren (葉博任), Advantech Chairman KC Liu (劉克振), and Google Taiwan Managing Director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰).

Former Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) was elected as the new president for the country's top biomedical agency in Tuesday's elections.

Tung said there is huge room for growth in Taiwan's medical business based on its population structure. Rapidly growing demand for healthcare services is expected as the country has entered the stage of an aged society, he added.    [FULL  STORY]

63 percent of Taiwanese inclined to work overseas next year: report

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/27
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) Sixty-three percent of Taiwanese said they are inclined to work overseas in 2020 as the country continues to face a serious brain drain due to its comparatively lower salary levels, recruitment specialists said in Taipei Wednesday.

During a press event to release an annual Taiwan salary benchmark report, Mark Tibbatts, managing director of global recruitment specialist, Michael Page Taiwan, said the local job market is expected to experience "fierce competition for talent" in the areas of digital, engineering, technology and data, next year.

"As the market experiences a net brain drain to mainland China, Taiwan will continue to see a candidate-driven hiring landscape," he said.

Citing the company's annual survey results, Tibbatts said 63 percent of respondents are looking to work overseas next year. The results reflect the fact that wages in Taiwan have long been comparatively lower than in other Asian countries, he noted.    [FULL  STORY]