TRADE TENSIONS Output fell for a third consecutive quarter as electronics components, the manufacturing sector’s key industry, slid 3.81% last quarter, the MOEA said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 20, 2019
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Manufacturing output last quarter declined for a third straight quarter, shrinking 7.01 percent year-

on-year to NT$3.37 trillion (US$110.46 billion), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday, attributing it to sluggish global economic growth due to the US-China trade conflict.

While the manufacturing sector would continue to bear the weight of the trade tensions, companies’ relocating their production back to Taiwan, new technologies and various applications, including 5G, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, could help drive up output going forward, the ministry said.

The decline in output last quarter was led by the electronics components industry — the manufacturing sector’s most important industry — which slid 3.81 percent to NT$940.6 billion, it said.

LCD production, for one, declined as the market remained oversaturated due to increasing Chinese supplies, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Key to what could be a world saving innovation is technique that controls rice's glucose mechanism

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/18
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A leading research institution in Taiwan has developed a genome editing method capable of helping rice adapt to environmental changes caused by increasingly frequent, extreme weather events.

A study by Academia Sinica is said to have discovered the secret to controlling glucose levels in plants, including rice, a staple in many countries. Like humans, plants need a balanced glucose mechanism to grow strong, said the government-sponsored research institution.

The key lies in the technique to manage αAmy levels, which is a type of enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of starch into sugars and thus affects glucose concentrations in rice. With this technological breakthrough, rice production is expected to increase by a factor of 1.5 times — even as as the food supply is disrupted due to water shortages and droughts, reported TechNews.

Improved rice cultivation will help address an alarming global food crisis as the output of the world’s four major staple foods — corn, rice, wheat, and soy beans — have dwindled since 2010, wrote the report. The aim is to boost crop production by 60 percent by 2050, when the planet's population is set to reach 9 billion, said Yu Su-may (余淑美), a researcher involved in the study at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/18
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) Green bonds of Danish energy developer Orsted are scheduled to be listed and traded on Taiwan's over-the-counter (OTC) market on Tuesday, according to the Taipei Exchange (TPEx).

The TPEx, which operates the local OTC market, said Orsted, through its subsidiary Orsted Wind Power TW Holding A/S, will issue NT$12 billion (US$393 million) in green bonds, and trading will start Tuesday, as the company seeks to finance its offshore wind development project in Taiwan.

Orsted's green bonds comprise a NT$4 billion tranche with a maturity of seven years and a 0.92 percent coupon rate, and an NT$8 billion tranche with a maturity of 15 years and a 1.5 percent rate, the TPEx said last Friday.

The TPEx said Orsted's green bonds will be sold to professional institutional investors, including insurance companies, banks, securities firms and mutual funds, rather than to retail investors.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/16
By:  Central News Agency

The National Communications Commission (NCC) has halted the sale of three smartphone models produced by Huawei Technologies Co. of China, saying a software upgrade had renamed Taiwan as "Taiwan, China."

The temporary ban, which extends to five telecom companies in Taiwan that sell the P30, P30 Pro and Nova 5T phones, may become permanent if the issue is not resolved, the NCC said Thursday.

Following the upgrade of the software on the three phone models, the time zone and contact apps now list Taiwan as "Taiwan, China," the NCC said.

The designation has sparked controversy among consumers in Taiwan, as China continues its efforts to convince global businesses and foreign government refer to Taiwan as "Taiwan, China," the NCC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/16
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Some foreign brokerages have raised their target price on shares in iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. after the world's largest contract electronics maker reported an 80 percent sequential increase in net profit for the third quarter.

In a research note, a securities house based in Hong Kong said the bottom line of Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn on the global market, was partly strengthened in the July-September period by improving the profitability of several of its major subsidiaries, including Hong Kong-listed FIH Mobile Ltd., which rolls out devices for international brands in the non-Apple Inc. camp.

The better operations of its subsidiaries helped Hon Hai report higher profit margins boosting the parent company's net profit in the third quarter, the brokerage said, adding it has hiked its target price on the stock from NT$105 to NT$112 (US$3.67) and left a "buy" rating unchanged.

On Friday, shares of Hon Hai, the second largest listed company in Taiwan in terms of market capitalization, rose 0.90 percent to close at NT$90.10 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, where the benchmark weighted index ended up 0.66 percent at 11,525.60 points as large cap tech stocks, including Hon Hai, served as a driver to the gains.    [FULL  STORY]

National Pingtung University's riding simulator safe, easy to maintain, livens up rehab experience

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A virtual reality horseback riding simulator developed for rehabilitation purposes by National Pingtung University in Taiwan is being touted as an innovation that adds fun to what is otherwise often a tedious process.

In collaboration with Golden Hospital in the southern county of Pingtung, National Pingtung University developed the system utilizing VR technologies and interactive games. It is aimed at making the rehabilitation experience more interesting and increasing patients’ willingness to take part in therapeutic sessions, reported CNA.

The system claimed third place in the immersive experience category of a nationwide university competition that encourages the development of smart technologies and cross-over projects, according to the report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) The production value of the local integrated circuit (IC) sector rose more than 5 percent from a year earlier, reversing a decline in the previous two quarters, on the back of the launch of new electronic devices and investment in 5G infrastructure, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Friday.

Data compiled by the MOEA's statistics department showed that the output of Taiwan's semiconductor sector totaled NT$396 billion (US$12.98 billion), up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The third-quarter growth reversed a 10.8 percent year-on-year decline in the first quarter, which suffered from weakening smartphone sales and falling cryptocurrency transactions, and a 3.1 percent drop in the second quarter, when the industry suffered inventory adjustments, the data indicated.

In the first nine months of this year, the production value of the local IC industry stood at NT$1.06 trillion, still down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the MOEA said.    [FULL  STORY]