Business and Finance

Appier acquires Japanese start-up

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/15
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) Appier Inc., a Taiwan-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, said Tuesday

Photo courtesy of appier

that it has acquired a Japanese counterpart, with the aim of strengthening its ability to serve its clients.

In a statement, Appier said the acquisition of Japan-based Emotion Intelligence (Emin) was completed in an all-cash deal. The financial terms of the purchase were not immediately disclosed.

Through the purchase, Appier announced the unveiling of AiDeal, a solution for e-commerce that is expected to speed up the pace of transactions for online shoppers.

Yu Chih-han (游直翰), CEO and co-founder of Appier, said that when his team made the first contact with Emin, the Taiwanese suitor found that AiDeal, developed by the Japanese firm, will be one of the best solutions to facilitate online transactions.    [FULL  STORY]

Food services to ignore labor decision

CONTRACTORS OR EMPLOYEES? Uber Eats said the Labor Standards Act barely fits its business model, as its drivers can set their own work hours and can refuse orders

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 16, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching and Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporters

Food delivery service provider Uber Eats Taiwan yesterday said that it would not change its business model in the short term, even though the Ministry of Labor on Monday said that food deliverers’ are employees rather than contractors.

The company said that it still considers delivery drivers to be contractors, because they can freely and flexibly decide when to work via its service platform.

“We hope that the government will discuss with all relevant stakeholders, including platform operators, and create regulations that protect the interests of delivery workers, but also allow this innovative service to prosper,” Uber Eats said in a statement.

The Labor Standards Act (勞基法) stipulates that food couriers are subject to the maximum daily working hours, must have one fixed day off per week and are entitled to double pay on national holidays.    [FULL  STORY]

Trade war won’t stop global deployment of Taiwan businesses

Minister of Economic Affairs says Taiwan companies will continue to establish manufacturing bases around the world

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/14
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said on Monday (Oct.

Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (CNA photo)

14) that despite the U.S. and China announcing a truce on tariff hikes, global deployment is still the long-term trend of Taiwan businesses, CNA reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump agreed Friday to put off planned tariff hikes this week from 25 percent to 30 percent on US$250 billion of Chinese goods. In exchange, he said China would buy American farm goods.

However, the two sides reportedly haven’t made any progress on the causes of the 15-month-old trade war. Shen said that as a result it was likely Taiwan’s businesses would continue to spread into new markets and establish manufacturing bases around the world.    [FULL  SORY]

Tsai details two tasks for Taiwan APEC Summit representative

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/14
By: Morris Chang

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Retired Taiwanese entrepreneur Morris Chang (張忠謀) was presented with

Morris Chang

two missions by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday as Taiwan's representative to the leaders' meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in mid-November.

The 2019 APEC Leaders Summit is scheduled to be held from Nov. 16-17 in Chile.

At a press conference, Tsai said she designated Chang her representative to the gathering because of his respected status in the international arena and in-depth knowledge of the evolution and development of Taiwan's technology sector.

Tsai gave Chang and Taiwan's APEC delegation two major tasks, the first being to share Taiwan's views on how to strengthen cross-nation economic integration in the digital era.
[FULL  STORY]

FSC to urge food firms to insure drivers

NO PROTECTION: In the US, Uber Eats provides insurance for its deliverers, but its local unit does not offer such coverage, despite low insurance costs, a lawmaker said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 15, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it will urge online food delivery platform operators to purchase accident insurance for their drivers after two couriers were killed in traffic crashes on Thursday and Sunday.

As the couriers were not insured against accidents by their employers, Foodpanda Taiwan Co (富胖達) and Uber Eats Taiwan, which hire drivers as contractors rather than employees, their families will likely receive compensation of up to NT$2 million (US$65,317) each from the Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance (CALI), the commission told a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.

All drivers are required to purchase CALI as minimum insurance in case of traffic accidents.

However, its perceived insufficient coverage caused a furor among lawmakers, who accused the food delivery companies of doing too little to protect their drivers.    [FULL  STORY]

TSMC revenues, market cap hit record highs

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/13
By: Jackson Chang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on Sunday reported its

TSMC founder Morris Chang (CNA file photo)

highest ever monthly revenue and market capitalization, following a prediction last year by its founder Morris Chang's (張忠謀) that it would create another business miracle.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a record monthly revenue of NT$106.118 billion (US$3.46 billion) for August, and third-quarter revenue of NT$293.046 billion.

Its results for the first nine months of year showed consolidated revenues of NT$752.75 billion, up 1.5 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 8, the company’s share price rose to a record NT$286.5, which translated into a market capitalization of US$7.429 trillion, the highest for any single listed company on Taiwan's stock market, according to the results.    [FULL  STORY]

MediaTek boost likely thanks to 5G

TRADING: SinoPac gave the firm a long-term ‘buy’ rating with a target stock price of NT$490, while Credit Suisse gave it an ‘outperform’ rating with a target of NT$440

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2019
By: Chen Cheng-hui  /  Staff reporter

As the initial market response to its new 5G system-on-chip (SoC) solutions appears to be positive, 5G represents an opportunity for MediaTek Inc (聯發科) to increase the average selling prices (ASPs) of its products and boost its earnings, analysts said.

Moreover, MediaTek is likely to see its 5G SoC solutions gain better traction among Chinese smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) beginning next year, they said.

“MediaTek’s 5G SoC development is on schedule and should pave the way for its smooth transition into the 5G era in 2020 and let it capture demand tied to the coming 5G-driven handset replacement cycle,” SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) said in a research note released on Monday.

“The de-Americanization of Chinese vendors’ supply chains would also help boost its handset SoC shipments and stabilize its market share,” SinoPac said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Acer ranks No. 5 PC vendor, Asustek No. 6 worldwide in Q3: Gartner

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/11
By:  Central News Agency

Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. retained their titles as the fifth- and sixth-largest global PC

Taiwanese brands Acer and Asus. (By Central News Agency)

suppliers, respectively, in the third quarter of this year, according to global market information advisory firm Gartner Inc.

While PC shipments for the July-September period rose about 1 percent from a year earlier, Asustek still saw its shipments falling on a year-on-year basis, a research report dated Oct. 10 from Gartner showed.

However, Acer outperformed the global market in the third quarter, when the Taiwanese brand shipped 4.21 million PCs, down 4.4 percent from a year earlier, to take a 6.2 percent share, which was up from 6.0 percent seen a year earlier and also up from 5.4 percent in the second quarter, Gartner said.

PC shipments by Asustek dropped 4.4 percent from a year earlier to 3.82 million units, with a global market share of 5.6 percent worldwide in the third quarter.    [FULL  STORY]

Japanese brokerage expects TSMC’s sales to grow 14%-16% in 2020

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/11
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) A Japanese brokerage has forecast that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, will post a 14 to 16 percent increase in sales from a year earlier in 2020 due to high demand from its four major clients.

In a research paper, the Japanese securities house said that amazed by TSMC's lead in high-end technology development over its peers, the company's four major clients – Chinese integrated circuit designer HiSilicon Technologies Co., U.S.-based IC designer Qualcomm Inc., American IC chip supplier Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), and U.S.-based consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. – will place more orders to the Taiwanese chipmaker in 2020.

Amid such optimism toward the chipmaker's business outlook, the brokerage has raised a target price on TSMC's shares to NT$330 (US$10.65) from NT$295, while leaving a "buy" recommendation on the stock unchanged.

On Wednesday, TSMC shares fell 1.57 percent to close at the day's low of NT$282.00 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange after a 3.06 percent increase on Tuesday as investors turned cautious about the high-level trade talks between Washington and Beijing set to open Thursday.
[FULL  STORY]

SAS to invest up to NT$1bn in Actron

COOPERATION: The solar wafer maker is to subscribe to Actron’s plan to issue 16 million shares to raise NT$1.4 billion to build a new production line for IGBT modules

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 12, 2019
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Solar wafer maker Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (SAS, 中美晶) on Wednesday said that its board of directors had approved a plan to invest up to NT$1 billion (US$32.41 million) to increase its share of automotive electronic components maker Actron Technology Corp (朋程) in a bid to deepen collaboration between the firms.

The Hsinchu-based company decided to subscribe to a bulk of new share offering from Actron, which aims to raise NT$1.4 billion by issuing 16 million common shares, SAS said in a company statement.

Each share is priced at NT$87.50, representing a discount of 2.89 percent to Actron’s closing price of NT$90.10 on the Taipei Exchange on Wednesday.

Stock markets were closed on Thursday and yesterday for the Double Ten National Day holiday.
[FULL  STORY]