Taiwan’s FlyingV is one of the most successful crowdfunding platforms in the Asian region. In 2015 roughly US$34 billion was raised globally through crowdfunding, a type of alternative finance that relies on small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to support new business ventures. Thanks to the internet, fundraisers can easily connect…
Faced with a tepid home property market, Taiwan’s life insurers are increasingly investing in high-yield overseas property. Taiwan’s cash-rich life insurers have scant investment opportunities at home, as yield levels have flagged in recent years amidst an overheated property market and weak rental growth. Insurers are constrained by minimum yield requirements set by the Financial…
Tourism from China buoyed Taiwan’s hotel sector during former President Ma Ying-jeou’s eight years in office, spurring hoteliers to refurbish aging properties and add thousands of new rooms to the market. Resilient demand helped hotels post enviable earnings. That golden era ended swiftly with the inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen in May. Irked by Tsai’s…
The Japanese property market is heating up as global buyers show increasing interest in prime areas of Tokyo, the world’s largest metropolitan area. Through May, the number of existing condominiums sold in Tokyo increased by 5.4% to 16,152 units year-on-year, while existing detached house sales rose by 14.3% on an annual basis to 8,224 units,…
Low investment and lax regulation threaten the long-term survival of the domestic television industry. In January, the celebrated Taiwanese talk show Here Comes Kangxi went off the air after 12 seasons. Driven by the witty banter between hosts Dee Hsu (“Little S”) and Kevin Tsai, the program was one of the most popular talk shows…
Three operators with majority private-equity control are seeking approvals for changes in ownership. A decade or so ago, international private-equity (PE) firms looked on Taiwan’s major cable television enterprises as an excellent fit for their investment objectives. They saw opportunities to significantly improve the performance of companies in the cable sector to enable an eventual…
The National Communications Commission (NCC) surprised industry stakeholders in the fall of 2015 when, after years of study and preparation, it abruptly released the proposed text of a series of five new laws intended to promote digital convergence. The five draft acts cover electronic communication, telecom infrastructure and resources, cable systems, telecom services, and terrestrial…
After arriving late to the 4G game, Taiwan is determined to capitalize early on the next generation of mobile communication technology. Taiwan has ambitious plans for 5G, a new mobile communication technology with faster speeds, greater capacity, and lower latency (transmission delays) than current network systems. Telecom industry watchers expect the official 5G standard to…
Steeped in the contract-manufacturing ethos, companies still often fall short in their bid to become global brands. Just half a decade ago, HTC was riding high as a proud example of a Taiwan company that had succeeded in establishing its brand among the world’s top makers of handsets. But the Taoyuan-based manufacturer has lost 90%…
Taiwan’s rising emphasis on high-quality lifestyle has spurred a wave of new homegrown brands offering everything from premium accommodations to inventive cuisine. Taiwan ranked as Asia’s third-happiest country behind Singapore and Thailand in a report released in March by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Overall, Taiwan came in 35th in…
