Category：Finance

UMC honorary chair donates NT$3 billion to help Taiwan improve its security

United Microelectronics Corporation Honorary Chair Robert Tsao on Friday announced a personal donation of NT$3 billion to help strengthen Taiwan’s defense capabilities. Tsao says he hopes the money can be used to thwart Chinese attempts to promote unification in Taiwan and create systems to prevent cyberattacks, among other things. At a press conference on Friday, he also directed some choice words at China and pro-unification supporters in Taiwan.

Robert Tsao
UMC honorary chair
The Chinese Communist Party is so arrogant and intimidating to Taiwan. Perhaps it thinks that the people of Taiwan are greedy and afraid of death. They completely underestimate Taiwan. That’s why today I would like to announce a NT$3 billion donation, or about US$100 million, to help strengthen our national defense.

UMC Honorary Chair Robert Tsao on Friday announced a donation of NT$3 billion for Taiwan’s national defense. He said that China was just like a local ruffian.

Robert Tsao
UMC honorary chair
The CCP attitude and existence is like that of a village thug. The People’s Republic of China is a mafia posing like a country. I hope you all understand that what I’m doing today is not for fame or fortune. I don’t care about the elections. I simply hate the lies and violence coming from the CCP.

Tsao says he hopes the NT$3 billion will be used to promote combat readiness education for all of Taiwan and will lead to the release of publications and media to combat China’s cognitive warfare campaigns. The donation could also be used to thwart infiltrations that are part of the CCP’s campaign to annex Taiwan and for developing systems to identify and trace disinformation fabricated and dispersed in Taiwan by foreign enemy forces. The money can also be used to stop CCP cyberattacks on Taiwan. Tsao also had some words to say to pro-unification factions in Taiwan, saying that becoming one with China was like becoming one with a gang of mobsters.

Robert Tsao
UMC honorary chair
They say that us Taiwanese want to unify with China. But what would we be unifying with? We’d become one with a rogue. Do you want us to join this mafia? That’s a major blind spot in the market for people who support Taiwan’s unification with China. It’s not a question of unification, but a question on whether you want to join a gang.

The honorary chairman criticized pro-unification advocates. He also commented on the U.S.’ CHIPS Act, saying he believes it will deliver a blow to China.

Robert Tsao
UMC honorary chair
Of course it will have an impact. But I think that Taiwan’s role in semiconductor production won’t change greatly for another five to 10 years.

Tsao said that for the time being, Taiwan would remain firmly in its place as a leading semiconductor powerhouse. Since leaving his role as company chair, Tsao has often commented on cross-strait affairs. Now, he’s donating NT$3 billion in hopes that Taiwan can better ward off China’s threat.

2022-08-05

Chinese attack on Taiwan would benefit no country in the world: Inventec chair

Amid growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Inventec Chair Tom Cho says a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would benefit nobody in the world. Cho says that his company had long ago kicked off expansion projects around the world to reduce its reliance on China. Let’s hear from him.

Tom Cho
Inventec chair
We are of course concerned about our many employees in China. But there is no need to fight. Who does it benefit? If there’s a fight, everyone dies. What’s the point? You could say that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could cost them their gas supply at most. But if China attacks Taiwan, they would lose everything. So we need to decouple our supply chains. That’s why we are expanding in Mexico, in Vietnam, in Malaysia and in the Czech Republic. But we won’t be reducing our output from China.

Analysts say Taiwan is the top supplier in the world for high tech products such as chips and servers. They say that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, would affect every country in the world, turning everyone against China.

2022-08-04

Taiwan shares close slightly down amid PLA live-fire drills near Taiwan.

Taiwan shares closed down 74 points on Thursday at 14,702, amid China’s military drills in the vicinity of Taiwan. Turnover stood at NT$195.4 billion

The index at one point lost 232 points, dipping below the 14,600-point mark. But a rebound in electronics shares ended up softening the blow, with TSMC shares closing above NT$500.

2022-08-04

Taiwan shares close slightly up amid China import bans

Shares for several Taiwanese food companies fell by 3% to 5% on Wednesday, after China imposed an import ban on their products. The companies affected include AGV Products Corporation, Hunya Foods and Taisun Enterprise. The sanctions came just before the Taiwan visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Taiwan officials have said they believe the bans are politically motivated. Let’s hear from an analyst.

David Chu
Analyst
The shares of several of the affected food companies were impacted. I think that the market has slowly become accustomed to saber-rattling. We’ve seen military planes approach over and over again, and the market stays pretty much unaffected. But now everyone is more worried, as the sanctions could affect company profits.

Taiwan shares hit a low point of 14,673 points during intraday trading on Wednesday, but gains in the tech sector countered the fall. TSMC shares went up NT$9 to finish above NT$500, with other tech stocks such as United Microelectronics, MediaTek and Largan Precision also making gains. The market ended closing up slightly by 29 points, at 14,777. Turnover stood at a reduced NT$174.8 billion, with institutional investors selling a net NT$6.249 billion.

2022-08-03

United we thrive: entrepreneurs explain how they built Japanese restaurant chain

Today we take a peek into the world of the entrepreneur. Three young foodies decided to band together to open a Japanese restaurant chain seven years ago. Although the early days were full of trouble, they managed to thrive and carve out a niche in the competitive industry. Let’s take a look at how they did it.

A nine-kilo salmon is brought over from the fishing harbor first thing in the morning. The chef skins it nimbly, dividing the meat and then removing the bones with tweezers. Then he cuts out the finest, fattiest cuts – just 40% of the fish.

Kuo Chen-nan
Japanese restaurant head chef
When a fish comes in, another store might sell the whole thing. We can only sell about half of it. We have waste of about 50%. Salmon and swordfish have a lot of gristle, which we cut straight off.

Absolutely no gristle is the no. 1 rule of sashimi. A fastidious commitment to the best ingredients is the secret of success for this Japanese restaurant.

Regular customer
The fish is so fresh here, really. I just saw the owner killing it himself. I often invite friends to come and eat with me.

Tang Kuo-lin
Japanese restaurant CEO
The most extreme we had, was a regular customer who came five times a week. When we started the business, we wanted to attract customers with low prices. But we use the same quality of ingredients as high-end Japanese restaurants.

Japanese cuisine requires fresh ingredients and high quality to shine. At this restaurant, the prices are much less than the market norm. They offer luxury set meals for bargain prices by joining forces with peers in the same business.

Tang Kuo-lin
Japanese restaurant CEO
Because I know lots of people in the business. After all, we all started off as small restaurants. So we buy our ingredients together, which allows us to control the costs. In my view, although things are hard for our generation of young people, if we are united enough, we will have a certain advantage in the market.

In the first year of the restaurant, these three young entrepreneurs worked together, managing everything themselves. When the store shut, they head to the fish market at the crack of dawn to choose the best catch. Only when everything is all in hand did they head home for a bit of downtime. They worked like that for a whole year to get the business off the ground and running.

Tang Kuo-lin
Japanese restaurant CEO
You really have to be psychologically prepared to start a business. That is, you might go through a few tough years that the average person wouldn’t be willing to go through. I remember when we had just started, the three of us probably only slept about four or five hours a night.

Now after seven years in business, the trio has three stores open and thriving, and a monthly turnover of more than a million NT. By working together, they’ve opened up possibilities that none could have created alone.

2022-08-02

Taiwan-made and imported car prices set to go up in August

If you are planning on buying a car, don’t wait until August, as prices are set to go up significantly for several models. Among them Subaru Foresters are set to go up by NT$100,000, or 8.6%. Carmakers say the price rise comes amid mounting costs due to COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The car dealer explains the features of the car models, to find the best fit for each consumer. Starting August, the price of many Taiwan-made cars and imported models has gone up.

Member of public
I was lucky to buy it before the price went up. It’s almost as if I had earned some money.

Member of public
People who need a car for their commute will still buy it. It won’t make a difference.

COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have sent material and chip costs soaring, and disrupted shipping routes. Amid all these unfavorable conditions, carmakers say they can’t absorb costs any longer.

Lee Jui-hung
Carmaker
We didn’t want our customers to bear the brunt of it, so we did. We absorbed the costs all up until now. We can’t absorb the costs any longer. So the price rise reflects some of those costs.

Car models that have become more expensive in August include hatchbacks like the Honda Fit hybrid and the Skoda Fabia, which will go up by NT$20,000 or about 2.5%.

Sedans such as the Hyundai Kona, have go up by NT$10,000 to NT$30,000, that’s a hike of 1% to 3%. The Subaru Forester’s price is also up by NT$100,000, an increase of 8.6%. Meanwhile, the price of the Lexus ES has gone up by 1%.

For the short term, car buyers are going to have to spend quite a bit more to get the car of their dreams.

2022-08-02

Industry group releases 2022 white paper

A leading Taiwanese industry group, the Chinese National Federation of Industries, has released its latest annual white paper. The document features 208 suggestions from business for the government. They include suggestions on how to address labor shortages, inflation and even cross-strait ties. One key component in the white paper is electricity prices. The chair of the group says another rate hike for industrial users could give rise to complaints.

The CNFI has released its first white paper under the leadership of Matthew Miao. The paper offers 208 policy suggestions to the government. Miao says that although the economy is posting good figures, it is not yet time for Taiwan to let down its guard.

Matthew Miao
CNFI chair
Do not be misled by this. Taiwan is still an export-oriented economy. If there is a rebound, its impact will be quite heavy, not light. These past few years, supply chains have been lacking. If all of a sudden the shortage ends, there will be big problems with inventory backlogs.

Back in July, the electricity rates went up 15% for large industrial users. With fuel prices on the rise and the cost of electricity generation mounting, Taipower could see more than NT$100 billion in losses. The economics ministry will meet again in September to decide whether to hike rates again. Miao says another rise could hurt Taiwan’s industry.

Matthew Miao
CNFI chair
If the rates go up again, people will really complain. If Taipower and CPC don’t make any price adjustments, they might have to shut down this year. Merely changing the rates won’t solve the problem. They should let us see what is going on behind the scenes. Raising the rates would of course cause huge harm to Taiwan’s industry.

The industry group says Taiwan should strengthen the resilience of its power grid and to enact legislation to require a reserve margin of at least 20%. According to the group chair, Taiwan industry leaders are not just concerned about how international incidents such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have affected fuel prices. They also have their eyes on the tensions between Taiwan, the U.S. and China. They say a Taiwan visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have repercussions on cross-strait tensions.

Matthew Miao
CNFI chair
We think that Pelosi is standing on our side. But this could be a very sensitive time for a visit. Will it be beneficial or harmful to Taiwan? If they want to express their friendship with Taiwan, they should do so regularly. It’s fine if they want to keep their strategic ambiguity. We have very solid communication channels.

The white paper lists out five major challenges for Taiwan: industrial imbalance, demographic crisis, inflation and supply chains, geopolitics, and energy. Industry leaders call on the government to improve Taiwan’s business environment so that the economy can grow to new heights.

2022-08-01

Taiwan’s first LED video walls make green screens obsolete for movie studios

The future of film is no longer green. Traditionally, the green screen was vital to create special effects. But a new method using high-resolution LED panels puts actors straight into virtual worlds. Now a Taiwanese movie studio has fitted the LED video walls, making the green screen obsolete. Let’s visit the studio for a peek at the future of Taiwanese movies.

The Mandalorian is full of thrilling action scenes. Most memorable are intergalactic fights that seem to catapult the actors into outer space. Getting real actors seamlessly integrated with CGI imagery was all possible thanks to LED screens.

Lu Chung-yu
FTV reporter
Traditionally, film studios were like the one I’m in here. You had to use a green screen for the background, so special effects could be added in post-production. But now we have these film-quality LED walls. Actors can step right into the scene.

With the new LED video walls, you can create the scene without any post-production effects. The first LED wall studio in Taiwan has now been unveiled. Its LEDs have 1.875 millimeter pixel pitch, brightness up to 1,500 nits, 8K resolution and a refresh rate of 7,680 hertz. For non-experts: they’re good. With frames as smooth as this, Hollywood has competition.

Lu Chun-hao
Digital studio brand CEO
Taiwan is lucky to have such a powerful semiconductor supply chain. So in the last two years, we could really push to catch up with Hollywood. This technology is really very close to the specs they have for LED screens in Hollywood. And we can get all this made in Taiwan.

Chu Mu-tao
ITRI Electro-optic Systems Institute
It’s brand-new technology. We can imagine how lively interest will be. There is quite some difficulty in filming on a real location.

The global market for large LED video walls was worth almost US$6.4 billion in 2021. That was up 15% from the year before. Experts say it could grow to US$12 billion by 2025. Massive investment is pouring into the technology.

2022-07-29

Taiwan’s economy grew by 3.08% in second quarter: government statistics agency

Taiwan’s economy grew by 3.08% in the second quarter, according to Taiwan’s statistics agency. That’s 0.23 percentage points lower than originally projected. So far this year, the GDP has grown by 3.85%, which is 0.06 percentage points lower than what was forecast in May.

The economy was affected by lockdowns in China, which reduced production at several Taiwan-owned plants. But when it came to exports, emerging technology applications and digital business remained strong over the quarter. That, coupled with easing material shortages, allowed goods and service exports to grow by 4.31% from Q2 in 2021. Domestic consumption grew 2.96% from the previous year, but experts say the base line was on the low side due to the Level 3 COVID alert.

2022-07-29

Taiwan central bank says it won’t necessarily follow Fed in raising interest rates

The Fed on Wednesday announced an interest rate hike of 0.75 percentage points. That makes a total rise of 1.75 percentage points this year alone, with another 0.5-percentage-point rise expected in August. Taiwan’s central bank says it won’t necessarily follow suit, as it has different considerations for it monetary policy.

The U.S.’ four major indexes all surged on Wednesday on the announcement, but the effects on Taiwan’s market did not last long. The Taiex opened up 110 points, surpassing the 15,000-point mark. But with Kinsus Interconnect Technology, Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board and Unimicron closing almost limit-down, the Taiex ended closing down 29 points at 14,891.

2022-07-28