The U.S.-China trade war and demand for sit-stand desks are helping drive growth for Taiwanese manufacturers. Taiwan’s furniture industry experienced a big boost in the 1990s through orders from IKEA –then suffered as the Swedish giant turned to suppliers in China, Vietnam, and other lower-cost countries. Taiwanese makers of wooden furniture generally responded by…
Companies are seeking to avoid the low-margin trap by moving into this technically demanding segment of the industry. As the days are gone when fabric could be cut and sewn in Taiwan at competitive costs, its textile sector has been shifting toward technical textiles for which production relies on automation rather than human labor. In…
More and more Taiwanese companies are investing there, despite often challenging business conditions. As the China market matures, bringing higher production costs, many Taiwanese companies are looking for the next big site for their offshore operations. India, which the Taiwan government has included within the scope of its New Southbound policy, is among the…
Proposed legislation would require religious foundations to establish internal financial auditing systems. Earlier this year, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, Taiwan’s largest and arguably most revered charity organization due to its efficient response at times of natural disasters, quite unexpectedly found itself under heavy attack by the domestic media and netizens over the…
The recent plane crash in the Keelung River has renewed calls for closing the airport earlier than the planned target of 2030. The existence of an airport taking up 400 hectares of prime real estate right in the middle of Taipei City has for decades annoyed a great number politicians, city planners, opinion leaders, and…
Despite controversy and heavy fines, Uber persists in seeking its niche in the Taiwan market. Since the market launch in Taiwan of ride-sharing service/mobile app company Uber in mid-2013, the company has seen impressive growth on the island. Both ridership and the driver pool have increased by an average of 30% a month, according to…
PREVAILING WINDS — The maps chart seasonal prevailing winds in East Asia. The map on the left shows the winter winds coming south off of the Korean Peninsula, which eventually hit Taiwan from the east. Located in Asia’s wet subtropical zone, Taiwan receives 2.6 times more rainfall than the global average – yet it is…
By Jens Kastner Last year’s 4G spectrum auction was much fiercer than expected, due mainly to the addition of two new players in the telecom sector – Ambit Microsystems and Taiwan Star. Ambit belongs to Terry Gou’s Hon Hai Group and Taiwan Star to the Wei family’s Ting Hsin International, both Taiwan-based conglomerates that made…
The Suhua Highway, now under construction, should reduce accidents, but will it spoil one of the more pristine parts of the island? By Jens Kastner From time immemorial, people travelling overland to and from Taiwan’s east coast have done so at the risk of life and limb. But at long last the days of landslides…
Taiwan’s 4G operators made up for lost time by rolling out their service in just about half a year after licensing. But competition is fierce, especially with some new players joining the fray, leading to intense pricing pressure. While consumers will be happy with both the rates and the fast transmission speeds, the high cost…
