U.S. Official Krach Makes Brief Visit U.S. Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith J. Krach made a brief visit to Taiwan from September 17 to 19. While Krach is the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Taiwan since the U.S. cut official ties with the island in 1979, his trip…
BASF Makes New Taiwan Investment German multinational chemical producer BASF will begin doubling its production capacity of Uvinul® A Plus, an ingredient used for UVA protection in various sun and skin care formulations, with the introduction of a new production line at its Kaohsiung factory. BASF currently produces the ingredient at its site in Ludwigshafen,…
Trade Keeps Rising, As Do Spirits Spirits were high at the SEMICON Taiwan 2020 international conference, held both online and offline at the Nangang Exhibition Center in late September. One of the recurring themes was the post-COVID-19 economic rally that Taiwan is experiencing, in contrast to most markets in the West. The government’s effective early…
A bi-weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taipei’s TOPICS Smart Manufacturing Alliance Established On October 6, two of Taiwan’s foremost industrial associations, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) and the Taiwan Electric and Electronics Manufacturing Association (TEEMA), announced the formation of the Taiwan Smart Manufacturing Alliance…
A bi-weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taipei’s TOPICS Bicycle Manufacturers See Major Change of Fortunes in Second Half As markets in the West have successively reopened, skyrocketing demand for bicycles and components has left manufacturers in Asia scrambling to keep up. Orders are backed up through…
Taishin Acquires Prudential Taiwan Taiwanese financial services firm Taishin Financial Holdings announced in August its 100% acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan for NT$5.5 billion (US$186.24 million). The deal comes after a series of bids were submitted to purchase the New Jersey-based insurance company’s Taiwan subsidiary, which has a staff of 700 sales…
A bi-weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taipei’s TOPICS FarEasTone and APT Sign 5G Deal FarEasTone (FET), Taiwan’s third largest telecom operator by market share, and Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT) announced in early September that they will begin partnering to provide 5G services on Taiwan’s 3.5GHz…
AmCham Meets with President Tsai AmCham Taipei Chairman CW Chin and several AmCham staff members met with President Tsai Ing-wen at the Presidential Office on August 18. Speaking with the group, President Tsai called attention to the deepening U.S.-Taiwan partnership in light of a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) on health cooperation signed during the…
Kaohsiung Elects Chen Chi-mai Chen Chi-mai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected mayor of Kaohsiung on August 15, defeating Jane Lee from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Wu Yi-jheng of the Taiwan People’s Party. The special election follows the recall in June of the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu. After losing to…
Modest Progress for Trade & Retail Taiwan’s travel and tourism industry felt the strong impact of travel restrictions in Q2, with both revenue and expenses falling to record lows since the government began collecting the data in 1984. Statistics released by Taiwan’s Central Bank in August show that between April and June, monthly travel income…
