Touch module supplier TPK’s net profit up 4.55%
Operating margin is expected to be 0.5 to 1 percent this quarter, similar to 0.7 percent last quarter, Liu said. Gross margin and the average selling price of TPK products rose last quarter thanks to product mix improvements, Liu said. Net profit rose to NT$322 million in the April-to-June period, compared with NT$308 million in the second quarter last year. Addressing growing competition from GIS Holding Ltd (業成), TPK said that it would remain the biggest supplier to its key customers. However, in some areas, GIS does not directly compete with TPK, Liu said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 15, 2021 15:56 UTC
China Life takeover this year, China Development says
China Life takeover this year, China Development saysBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterChina Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控) on Thursday said that it is seeking to complete the takeover of China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) by the end of this year by acquiring all remaining shares of the firm via a share swap. The companies’ boards of directors approved the proposed share swap, in which one common share of China Life would be exchanged for 0.8 common shares of China Development, plus 0.73 preferred shares of China Development and a cash bonus of NT$11.5 per share, they said. China Development would issue 2.07 billion new common shares and 1.89 billion new preferred shares that would be exchanged for China Life’s common shares, they said. Through two tender offers completed in September 2017 and in February this year, China Development boosted its stake in China Life to 55.95 percent. Based on China Life’s closing share price of NT$26.9 and China Development’s share price of NT$13.85 on Thursday, China Development has offered a premium of 17.3 percent for China Life shares, Chang said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 15, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: Crafting Taiwan’s temples
They probably hoped to sell the pieces for cash, as they were the handiwork of Chiang Hsin (蔣馨), whose relatives and disciples left their mark across Taiwan’s many temples and traditional structures. This photo shows the Huang family grave with the stone carvings adorning the headstone. This photo shows a recovered piece of stone carving from the Huang family gravestone. Chiang Hsin first came to Taiwan to fix Lukang’s famed Tianhou Temple. Chiang won the bid for the Tianhou Temple project and recruited several of his clansmen, including Chiang Mei-shui, to help him.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taipei’s Ko takes balloon ride, gets flak over travel
The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said that Taipei and Taitung County on Tuesday last week signed an agreement to promote and increase tourism between the two jurisdictions. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, center, looks down from a hot air balloon at the Taiwan International Balloon Festival in Taitung County’s Luye Highland yesterday. Photo: CNAYesterday was the Bravo hot air balloon’s public debut and hopefully it will be at more festivals, Ko said. The balloon has the Taipei skyline on one side and the North Gate (承恩門) on the other. Taitung County Councilor Ku Chi-sing (古志成) said that Ko and Yao had a double standard, as they have asked people to avoid traveling to prevent spreading COVID-19.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Illegal permits for yachts among ports issues: report
Illegal permits for yachts among ports issues: reportBy Hsieh Chun-lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Control Yuan has censured the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Maritime and Port Bureau, citing the bureau for dereliction of duty leading to more than 2,600 abnormal licensing incidents by the Central Maritime Affairs Center. The system lacks a mutual check and cross-analysis mechanism, which has allowed center personnel to abuse their positions and create more than 2,600 allegedly illegal permits for yachts or other powered vessels, the report said, adding that the problem has greatly undermined government integrity. The entrance to the Control Yuan in Taipei is pictured in this file photo. However, the center’s staff has destroyed files on license registration and issuing for more than 1,000 vehicles, which contravenes the Archives Act (檔案法), it said. The bureau, as the center’s direct supervisor, is censured, as it has failed to establish a proper standard handling these matters, and has not acted to oversee affairs, the report said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: Flight departs as Palau program restarts
COVID-19: Flight departs as Palau program restartsStaff writer, with CNAA group of 148 people departed from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning as Taiwan’s suspended travel bubble with Palau resumed. A China Airlines flight took off at about 10:30am under a program in which the Pacific island country is offering up to 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to arrivals from Taiwan. Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Olkerii, right, presents a US$50 travel voucher to a woman at Taiwan Taoyuan International Aiport yesterday. The first group in the program arrived at the airport at about 4am yesterday and from 5am underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19. Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Olkerii was at the airport to see the flight off and gave each passenger US$50 of travel vouchers to use in Palau.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Voucher details being reviewed, no decisions yet
Voucher details being reviewed, no decisions yetBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Presidential Office late on Friday denied some local media reports that upfront payments for a planned “quintuple stimulus voucher” program would be waived for the entire nation, saying that the plan was still under discussion. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) acknowledges the different opinions regarding stimulus vouchers, Chang said, adding that she would discuss the plan and possible changes with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). A woman holds up Triple Stimulus Vouchers on Jan. 7. Tsai expects that this year’s voucher program will be designed with input from different sides, Chang said. Last year, members of the public could acquire Triple Stimulus Vouchers worth NT$3,000 for NT$1,000.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Talent shortage hampers military projects: official
Talent shortage hampers military projects: official‘HIGH SALARIES’: Fresh talent is urgently needed in the areas of avionics, shipbuilding, and shipborne weapons and naval platforms design, an official saidBy Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerA shortage of experts has impeded the development of the military’s indigenous submarine prototype, an advanced trainer jet and an F-16 modernization program, a Ministry of National Defense official said on Friday. The official made the remarks on condition of anonymity amid an initiative by the ministry to recruit more foreigners with technical expertise to work in Taiwan’s defense sector. A model submarine is displayed in the lobby of shipbuilding company CSBC Corp’s headquarters in Kaohsiung on Dec. 29 last year. However, the ministry would try to make their employment packages as attractive as possible, the official added. Also exempt would be specialists with five years of experience in shipborne weapons, equipment and platform design, including performance, structure, propulsion, electrical systems, command and control, auxiliary machinery and outfitting, the document showed.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taiwanese detained at Turkey airport over betel nuts
Taiwanese detained at Turkey airport over betel nutsBy Wu Su-wei / Staff reporterSeveral Taiwanese were detained in Turkey after allegedly taking betel nuts into the country, which regards them as containing illegal drugs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The Chinese Consulate-General in Istanbul on Thursday said in a statement that Chinese and Taiwanese were detained upon arrival in Turkey for carrying betel nuts. A person holds a handful of betel nuts in Pingtung County on July 4. People who travel to Turkey must not take betel nuts, as they would be infringing on local laws, she added. While Turkey’s criminal code does not stipulate a specific ban on betel nuts, authorities list products as prohibited articles if they contain arecoline hydrobromide.
Source:Taipei Times
August 14, 2021 15:56 UTC
Taichung official criticizes stagnation with aquarium not open after a decade
Taichung official criticizes stagnation with aquarium not open after a decadeBy Tang Tsai-sheng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn aquarium in Taichung’s Cingshui District (清水) that started development more than a decade ago under then-Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) still has no animals and has not opened, Taichung City Councilor Yang Tien-chung (楊典忠) said on Sunday. Under Hu, the aquarium was initially envisioned as a penguin conservation center and later an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin conservation center, Yang said. “When Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) became mayor, the city pushed for its development as a jellyfish conservation center, and then as an all-purpose aquarium,” Yang said. The initial construction budget was NT$350 million (US$12.56 million), which was increased to NT$570 million when Lin decided that it should be an all-purpose marine conservation center, Yang said. “Following several unsuccessful attempts to find a bidder for the build-operate-transfer project, Nan Ren Hu in July stepped in after adjustments were made to the contract,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: Group launches ‘I Support Taiwan Vaccine’ campaign
COVID-19: Group launches ‘I Support Taiwan Vaccine’ campaignBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNAFormer members of the Wild Lily student movement on Thursday launched an “I Support Taiwan Vaccine” campaign, urging people to register to receive locally produced COVID-19 vaccines. Former members of the Wild Lily student movement at a news conference in Taipei on Thursday hold placards calling for people to support the development of domestic COVID-19 vaccines. The Central Epidemic Command Center on Wednesday said that on Aug. 23, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp would become part of Taiwan’s inoculation program. The FDA authorized the vaccine because those given it had neutralizing antibodies that compared favorably to those generated in people given AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, a concept known as immunobridging. National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Journalism director Hung Chen-ling (洪貞玲) said that the I Support Taiwan Vaccine campaign aims to boost support for Medigen’s product and other domestic vaccines still in development.
Source:Taipei Times
August 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
COVID-19: Upfront fee for vouchers might be done away with
COVID-19: Upfront fee for vouchers might be done away withBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Executive Yuan yesterday signaled that it might do away with an upfront payment in its planned quintuple stimulus voucher program, as differentiating between who would qualify to have the NT$1,000 buy-in waived might cost too much to administer. Envelopes of Triple Stimulus Vouchers from a program last year are pictured in an undated photograph. Moreover, determining who is eligible to have the fee waived becomes more complicated with each condition, leading to enormous administrative costs, Su said. Last year, an upfront payment of NT$1,000 was exchanged for NT$3,000 of vouchers. The quintuple stimulus voucher program plan is for NT$5,000 of vouchers.
Source:Taipei Times
August 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Amnesty concerned about electronic ID card security
Amnesty concerned about electronic ID card securityLACKING SAFEGUARDS: Taiwan lacks cybersecurity mechanisms for an eID program, a critic said, while an Estonian hack saw 300,000 ID photographs stolenBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterAmnesty International Taiwan yesterday called for the establishment of a dedicated oversight body for the government’s planned electronic identification card (eID) program, citing potential privacy and security concerns. The NT$3.3 billion (US$118.45 million at the current exchange rate) eID program was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior to replace national IDs with cards containing electronic chips that store personal information. Along with calling for new cybersecurity laws and an independent regulatory body to oversee the program, Chiu and others demanded that the government allow people the choice to continue using traditional IDs. New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said the scheme must consider privacy concerns and potential human rights issues. “The current laws and regulatory bodies are insufficient for security protection and safety for use of eIDs,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
IC output to top NT$4tn, IEK says
Local semiconductor output is now projected to grow 24.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.01 trillion, the market information advisory unit of the Industrial Technology Research Institute said. IEK had in May forecast that output this year would increase 18.1 percent to NT$3.8 trillion. The IEK forecast that the local semiconductor industry would see quarterly increases in shipments in the second half of the year, paving the way for robust full-year growth in output. Among the four major segments of the semiconductor industry, IC design reported the highest sequential growth of 17.9 percent to NT$306.9 billion, IEK data showed. The IEK forecast that the four major IC segments would see a combined output of NT$1.05 trillion in the third quarter, up 6.8 percent from the previous quarter.
Source:Taipei Times
August 13, 2021 15:56 UTC
Nineteen eateries join this year’s Bib Gourmand list
Nineteen eateries join this year’s Bib Gourmand listBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterNinety-one restaurants and street vendors in Taipei and Taichung made the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year, including 19 that were listed for the first time, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. This year’s edition, with both the eateries awarded Michelin stars and the Bib Gourmand list, is to be officially released online on Aug. 25. The Bib Gourmand list would usually be announced prior to the guide’s official release. The Gulu Gulu Aboriginal live music restaurant in Taichung’s West District is pictured in an undated photograph. The Taichung restaurants and street vendors appearing in the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year are pictured in an undated illustration.
Source:Taipei Times
August 11, 2021 16:00 UTC