Taiwan’s first two virtual banks have quickly accumulated customers, and the market is expanding with a third such bank on the way. But Taiwan’s oversaturated banking market will likely require that the digital lenders adopt new tactics and technologies to become truly competitive. Taiwan’s financial industry is known for its conservatism. Firms and regulators alike…
Taiwan’s e-commerce market experienced rapid growth in 2021, driven primarily by the severe outbreak of local infections that summer. Yet as life has more or less returned to normal, the appeal of physical retail regained strength. As a result, companies are now launching business models that merge online and offline channels. As Taiwan flirted with…
The highly transmissible Omicron variant poses clear risks that must be managed, but a roadmap for reopening is still needed. The capricious coronavirus is full of unpleasant surprises, the latest being the ultra-transmissible Omicron variant that threatens to upend Taiwan’s mostly COVID-free existence. With around 18,000 total recorded cases and 850 deaths as of mid-January,…
After surviving the harrowing mid-2021 local COVID-19 outbreak, the capital’s foreign restaurateurs are cautiously optimistic about the coming year. Herban Kitchen was having a stellar 2021. With Taiwan a safe haven from pandemic-induced turmoil, the Taipei vegetarian restaurant hit a three-year sales high in early May. Not only were regulars packing the restaurant, but veggie-loving…
The domestic market is too small to sustain the industry indefinitely, especially in Taipei. The unmistakable sound of birds chirping fills the elevator of the Regent Taipei. The avian audio is part of the hotel’s COVID-induced transformation into an urban resort. Unusual, perhaps, but these are not ordinary times for the tourism sector, and besides,…
Booming exports, especially ICT products, are driving demand for industrial plots of land, factories, and logistics facilities to a new high. Ever since the U.S.-China trade dispute began, demand for industrial real estate in Taiwan has been ticking up. Demand strengthened with the launch of the Tsai Ing-wen administration’s reshoring initiative in 2019, which offers…
Neither a local COVID-19 outbreak nor the global rise of remote work has significantly curbed demand for Grade A office space. Over the past two years, a global work-from-home (WFH) trend has emerged that could reshape the relationship between workers and the office. But the WFH movement has not affected all countries equally. In Taiwan,…
Taiwan’s military is set to receive a windfall in the form of a five-year special budget focused on indigenous defense capabilities. Under the Six Core Strategic Industries initiative, the domestic defense supply chain is growing, though foreign technology still plays an integral role. Since early 2020, Chinese military aircraft have regularly intruded into Taiwan’s southwest…
Chipmaking undergirds the Six Core Strategic Industries initiative, particularly in the area of digital and information technology. The Six Core Strategic Industries policy, which the Tsai Ing-wen administration launched in 2020, builds upon the 5+2 Innovative Industries initiative of Tsai’s first term to capitalize on global supply chain changes and catalyze Taiwan’s industrial transformation. Amid…
Extending free vaccination to males could reduce the spread of the human papilloma virus, which is the primary cause of both cervical and oropharyngeal cancer. The human papilloma virus (HPV) is a leading cause of several types of cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that two types of HPV (16 and 18) cause 70%…
