Eye On Taiwan

Arris Composites Secures $48.5M Series B to Accelerate Mass Production of High-Performance Carbon Fiber Products Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:36 AM PDT Taiwania Capital joins NEA, Valo Ventures and AVG to enable the next generation of mass-market, multi-material structures that deliver commercial advantages across industries from consumer electronics to automotive and aerospace WebWire Date: April 11, 2020 Arris Composites, the pioneer of next-generation composites, today announces $48.5M in series Arris Composites founders Riley Reese, Erick Davidson and Ethan Escowitz B funding. Arris will be expanding its proprietary composite manufacturing capabilities and opening facilities in the U.S. and Taiwan, the latter to serve the demand of the consumer electronics industry. The round was led by Taiwania Capital with participation from return investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), which led Arris Composites’ $10M Series A round in January 2019, alongside Valo Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group (AVG). Carl Bass, former Autodesk CEO, will join the board of directors as an independent board member. Carl has been involved with Arris since 2017 as an angel investor, advisor and research collaborator while the company incubated in his personal machine shop. “Since we began working with Arris Composites in 2018, we’ve been impressed with the maturation of their manufacturing technology and the intense interest and enthusiasm we’ve seen from top brands in the consumer, automotive, aerospace and other industries in leveraging Arris’ manufacturing methods for next-gen, not-yet-released products,” explains Greg Papadopoulos, Venture Partner, NEA and former Chief Technology Officer, Sun Microsystems. “High-performance composites that can be mass-produced in new ways hold incredible promise for all kinds of products.”    [FULL  STORY]

TSMC Q1 sales top its guidance Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:30 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/11/2020 By: Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang Taipei, April 11 (CNA) The first-quarter sales of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, exceeded its earlier guidance, mainly on record high revenues for March. The strong first-quarter sales reflected solid global demand for 5G applications and high performance computing (HPC) devices, which has offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the typical slow season effects, according to market analysts. In a statement released Friday, TSMC posted about NT$310.60 billion (US$10.32 billion) in consolidated sales for the January-March period, up 42 percent from a year earlier but down 2.09 percent from the previous quarter. The company's first-quarter sales beat its estimate of NT$304.98 billion to NT$307.97 billion, which was made at an investor conference in mid-January.    [FULL  STORY]

Opening game of Taiwan baseball season postponed due to rain Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:25 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/11/2020 By: William Yen Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium on Saturday rendered unplayable due to heavy rains Taoyuan, April 11 (CNA) Heavy rain on Saturday caused the postponement of the highly anticipated opening game in Taiwan's baseball season, the only one scheduled anywhere in the world at this time amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While the opening game was postponed, the season will commence Sunday with two games in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). Defending champions Rakuten Monkeys will play New Taipei-based Fubon Guardians, and the Taichung-based Chinatrust Brothers will come against the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of Tainan. The game between the Brothers and the Monkeys has been pushed back to a later date, as the field at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium was rendered unplayable due to heavy rains, according to the CPBL.    [FULL  STORY]

Eslite to shut down Taitung store end of April Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:16 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/11/2020 By: Lu Tai-cheng and Frances Huang Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Eslite Spectrum Corp., which runs the popular Eslite bookstore chain in Taiwan, has confirmed that it is closing its Taitung store at the end of April when the lease for the site expires. The Eslite store is housed in a historic building of Japanese architecture in Taitung City, which was once the site of the Taitung Land Department and is now a cultural and art center. Amid rumors that the Taitung bookstore was about to close, Eslite confirmed Friday that due to expiration of its lease, it will shut down its operations there April 30. The Eslite store in Taitung, which opened in September 2007, was one of the first major bookstores in eastern Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

FPG posts losses of NT$13.99bn Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:13 AM PDT CORONAVIRUS WOES: Nan Ya Plastics was the only one of the four main units to post a profit due to its circuit board business seeing growing demand due to 5G deployments Taipei Times Date: Apr 11, 2020 By: Natasha Li / Staff reporter The four major subsidiaries of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted combined losses of NT$13.99 billion (US$464.74 million) for last quarter, marking the group’s worst financial performance in five years. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the largest of the group’s four listed companies, reported a loss of NT$9.99 billion for last quarter, or losses per share of NT$1.05. The company blamed plummeting crude oil prices and weakening demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as prices of its naphtha and alkene products fell, dealing a heavy blow to its oil refining business. An inventory loss of NT$5.26 billion also added to last quarter’s poor performance. [FULL  STORY]

Death on the high seas; the mysterious death of a humble fishing observer Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:33 AM PDT Stuff Date: Apr 12 2020 By: Andrea Vance Eritara with his wife Tekarara Kabangaki. On a sweltering but calm afternoon, Eritara Aati Kaierua left the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia on his final journey. Aboard a rusting Taiwanese fishing vessel he sailed south-east, leaving behind mangrove swamps on the shore line, and passing low coral atolls, beyond the breakwater before reaching the deep-blue of the Pacific. He would never leave that ship. In less than five weeks, the 40-year-old would be dead, found lying on the floor of his locked cabin with a brutal head wound and bruising to his neck. Kaierua's death is now under investigation by Kiribati police, with assistance from Fijian pathologist. The father-of-three is the tenth Pacific fisheries observer to die on the lawless high seas in the last decade. The tragedy has sparked a call for more protection for this vulnerable workforce, who often face hostility from captains and crews. And it's brought to light the mysterious deaths of two more i-Kiribati monitors in the last three years.    [SOURCE]

Taiwan fights to save its tourism industry amid battering by coronavirus and Beijing Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:28 AM PDT Self-ruled island seems to have contained its outbreak, but its ban on overseas tours followed Beijing halting mainland Chinese groups going there Second phase of aid package will include bailouts for travel agents and workers, ministry announces South China Morning Post Date: 11 Apr, 2020 By: Lawrence Chung Taiwan’s government has pledged emergency relief measures for its flagging tourism sector as part of its NT$1.05 trillion (US$35 billion) aid package for workers and businesses bearing the economic brunt of the coronavirus pandemic .The tourism industry is expected to receive about NT$30 billion to help bail out its businesses, which were among the first to be affected by the outbreak. Transport minister Lin Chia-lung appealed for calm on Thursday, saying his ministry – which covers tourism – would do all it could to help alleviate the sector’s plight.    [FULL  STORY]

Fox News host describes WHO chief as a joke over Taiwan remarks Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:22 AM PDT Hoover Institution expert suggests US should form new international health body Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/11 By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer Fox News host Tucker Carlson (left) with Lanhee Chen (screengrab from Fox News)  TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Fox News host Tucker Carlson described World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as “a joke” because of the latter’s remarks about Taiwan. At a news conference, the WHO director-general complained he had been attacked by Taiwan and even accused his critics on the island of “racism.” His comments touched off a wave of indignation, with a fundraising campaign to publish a rebuke in the New York Times receiving an overwhelming response. Talking to Stanford University Hoover Institution expert Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜) on his show “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Fox News host accused Tedros of repeated lying on behalf of China, starting with the claim that the coronavirus could not be transferred between humans. Later, the WHO chief also changed the official name of the virus to COVID-19 at Beijing’s behest, Carlson said. When the WHO said that masks would not be necessary, China was already hoarding them, according to the Fox News host. He also repeated accusations that while serving in the government of his native Ethiopia, Tedros had suppressed information about two cholera outbreaks.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan developing social distancing app Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:17 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/11/2020 By: Wang Cheng-chung and Frances Huang Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Taiwan is working to develop an app that would help people maintain social distancing, as part of its efforts to contain the COVID-19 coronavirus, Chien Hung-wei (簡宏偉), director of the cyber security department under the Executive Yuan, said Saturday. When the app is released in a week or two, it will issue an alert on people's mobile phones if they get too close to each other, Chien said. It will also provide information about crowded venues so that people could avoid entering, and it will give the users data on how often they came too close to others during each day, he said. Under the social distancing guidelines issued by Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), people are advised to stay at least one meter apart outdoors and 1.5 meters apart indoors.    [FULL  STORY]

Foundation hosts online event to end child abuse Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:13 AM PDT GAINING GROUND: More than 56 countries ban corporal punishment against children, and the foundation said that it hopes that Taiwan is next Taipei Times Date:  Apr 12, 2020 By: Rachel Lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer The Humanistic Education Foundation is calling for people to pledge to end corporal punishment of children, in an Internet event to commemorate International Spank Out Day on April 30. National Spank Out Day originated in the US in 1998 to educate people about nonviolent parenting alternatives, but since 2001, other organizations outside the US have adopted the event. Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) yesterday said that Taiwan first observed the day in 2006, and in 2014 the government passed the Implementation Act of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (兒童權利公約施行法), based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [FULL  STORY]