TRADE
Christensen criticizes China
China is aggressively using market-distorting subsidies and other practices such as intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers that harm the global economy, including the economies of the US and Taiwan, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen said yesterday. “We must defend the international rule-based order and sometimes take steps to dissuade those who flout global rules,” he said in a speech at the annual congress of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Taipei. The US is committed to open markets and free trade in the Indo-Pacific region and globally, common values that the nation shares with Taiwan, he said. The free and open Indo-Pacific strategy, introduced by the administration of US President Donald Trump in November last year, encompasses an area stretching from the US west coast to Japan, through Southeast Asia to Australia, and west to India, he said. “We are looking to work more closely with Taiwan on the Indo-Pacific strategy’s priority initiatives of energy, infrastructure and the digital economy,” he said. In the years ahead, as business relationships evolve in the Indo-Pacific region, the role and importance of Taiwanese businesses would continue to grow and expand around the world, he added. Christensen announced that the AIT would escort a delegation of Taiwanese companies to the Indo-Pacific Discover Global Markets event on aerospace, defense and advanced manufacturing to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Dec. 10 to Dec. 12. The congress was also attended by former US vice president Dick Cheney and Stephen Yates, a former deputy national security adviser to Cheney.
TELECOMS
MOD subscribers at 1.9m
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, yesterday said that subscribers to its multimedia-on-demand (MOD) Internet TV business climbed to more than 1.9 million this month. That means the company is well on track to hit its target of 2 million subscribers by the end of this year. The company attributed the growth to its broadcasts of the FIFA World Cup and Asian Games. Chunghwa Telecom is set to broadcast more sports events next month, including the Chinese Taipei Open organized by the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association.
ENERGY
Research center founded
Denmark’s Orsted A/S yesterday donated a 1 megawatt energy storage system to National Changhua University of Education to further the school’s green energy curriculum. The system features energy storage equipment built by Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) and is to be installed by the Taiwanese company. Orsted also founded a research center at the university to help students develop the next generation of energy storage solutions.
PROPERTY
TLDC inks Hualien deal
Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) yesterday inked a cooperation pact with Vieshow Cinemas and VR Live for a mixed-use commercial building, the second phase of a larger development project in Hualien County. TLDC chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) signed the agreement at the site near Hualien Bay (洄瀾灣), where TLDC is to open a building that is to house VR facilities, movie theaters, restaurants and other sports activities, the Taipei-based developer said in a statement. The building has five stories above ground and one basement, and is equipped with the latest technologies in a bid to entice visitors to the area.
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that it is considering further capacity expansion as customers are requesting more capacity due to rising end-market demand and persistent supply constraints. The Hsinchu-based company said that emerging technologies and applications from 5G, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles are driving semiconductor demand. The semiconductor industry has a positive outlook for this year and beyond, with shipments of all diameters of wafers to increase through 2023, GlobalWafers said. “We have received requests for expansion from many strategic partners. We are now in discussions with customers,” company chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told a
OUTBREAK: About 200 of the airline’s 1,200 pilots are not able to work. Most of them have been quarantined to prevent further infection, but 12 have COVID-19 China Airlines Ltd (CAL,中華航空) yesterday confirmed that it would temporarily reduce its cargo flight services to cope with a pilot shortage, as one-sixth of its pilots have been sidelined by a COVID-19 outbreak. “We are working out a new schedule,” the airline said in a statement after local news media reports on Saturday said that it would be reducing its cargo services from Wednesday, primarily affecting US destinations. CAL declined to give details about its new operating plan, but the reports said that it would be suspending its cargo flights to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and
XSEMI: The new venture would consolidate the strengths and resources of the two market leaders to secure chip supply and offer clients total solutions, the partners said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday signed an agreement to form a joint venture called XSemi Corp (國瀚半導體) to develop” small ICs” priced under US$2 per unit, marking the latest effort by Hon Hai to bolster its foothold in the semiconductor market. The collaboration fits into Hon Hai’s plans for expansion by providing a steady supply of small semiconductors, while also serving the global market, the companies said in a joint statement. The new company, to be located in Hsinchu, would “consolidate the strengths and resources of the two market leaders” to provide a “complete semiconductor
German semiconductor producer Infineon Technologies AG on Tuesday said that microchip supply bottlenecks could continue into next year, in a blow to the auto industry. “We predict that the imbalance between supply and demand will continue for a few quarters yet, with the risk that it lasts into 2022,” Infineon chief executive Reinhard Ploss said in a virtual news conference. He added that the “bottlenecks” are a particular problem for the Munich-based company in areas where they do not produce the chips themselves, but buy them from subcontractors to equip microcontrollers for vehicles or smart appliances. The auto industry remains plagued by
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