Despite a monthly drop, Taiwan’s PMI (purchasing managers’ index) still remained above 50 for the fourth straight month in June to represent steady expansion of local manufacturing activities, to bode well for the island’s economic outlooks in the second half of this year. According to the latest report issued by Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), a semi-official economic rese...

The Taiwan-based China Steel Corp. (CSC), the island’s largest steelmaker by size, has decided to invest NT$4 billion to develop solar power business in the next five years, to make its foray into the sector, a move just confirmed by the chairman Andrew Sung at an investor conference held June 23. According to Sung, the investment includes the installation of solar power panels on roofs of the...

Inventec Group, a Taiwan-based ITC (information and communication technology) conglomerate with Inventec Corp. as the flagship firm, decides to put aside NT$2 billion (about US$62.5 million) to help its affiliates expand output of solar cells this year. The investment was confirmed by Inventec Group’s chairman, Richard Lee, at an investor conference held June 20, which is believed to enable th...

Looking at Taiwan’s investment-friendly environment and high-quality labor resources with favor, the Switzerland-headquartered chemical maker vanBaerle AG has just broken the ground on its new silicate production plant in Taichung Port, one of the island’s major commerical ports and in the central region, as part of its constant effort to explore the Asian market. At the ground-breaking ceremo...

Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co., Ltd. (FETC), a subsidiary of the Far Eastern Group and the first supplier of the electronic toll system for the north-south freeway in Taiwan, is tapping overseas markets for its e-Tag electronic toll collection systems (ETCs), having signed up the Vietnamese government to install the system and been in talks with governments of many countries. FETC ...

Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), the state-owned power monopoly in Taiwan, recently announced it plans to invest some NT$400 billion (US$12.12 billion) into the development of renewable energies, of which more than 80 percent of such investment to go to offshore wind farms. According to Taipower's plans, the company will install 300 wind turbines in the Changhua costal area that lies off the count...

To encourage the installation of solar-power generation equipment by the private sector, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) recently announced its target to promote the installation of 500 megawatt (MW) of such equipment in Taiwan this year, which calls for total investment of at least NT$45 billion (US$1.36 billion). The Bureau of Energy (BOE) under the MOEA has encouraged the priva...

The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), Taiwan’s largest aircraft maker by size and also known for developing the AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighter several decades ago, recently said that its delegation led by company chairman Anson Liao had gone to the Singapore Airshow 2016, Asia's largest and one of the most important aerospace and defense exhibitions in the world. Despite being abse...

In order to be ready to tap more business opportunities created by various new products soon to be pushed to market, some of Taiwan’s major aerospace manufacturers have been expanding production capacity to meet scheduled shipments to customers this or next year. The new business opportunities for the local aerospace makers are being created by the Japanese upstarts in aviation, including vari...

Dampened by the sagging steel market, caused mainly by China’s supply glut, Taiwan-based China Steel Corp. (CSC), the island’s largest steelmaker by size, finished 2015 with lackluster performance. According to CSC’s latest financial statement, the firm’s annual consolidated revenue sharply shrank by 22.2 percent year on year (YoY) to NT$285 billion (about US$8.64 billion), with operating prof...