Eye On Taiwan

Taiwan Beer beat Yulon Dinos 94-74 to even series Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:42 AM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 25, 2020 By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter Taiwan Beer’s Chiang Yu-an, right, puts up a shot against the Yulon Luxgen Dinos’ Douglas Creighton in their SBL Finals game at the Hao Yu Sports Center in New Taipei City yesterday. Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times Taiwan’s top hoop stars last night were the focus of basketball fans around the world as Taiwan Beer rebounded from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat the Yulon Luxgen Dinos 94-74, evening up their Super Basketball League (SBL) Finals series 2-2 at the Hao Yu Sports Center in New Taipei City. The International Basketball Federation has made the SBL Finals available for an international audience starved of live-court action due to lockdowns and shuttered seasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic by livestreaming all of the games on its YouTube and Facebook channels. The Yulon Dinos took Pauian Archiland in the first-round playoffs with a three-game sweep to advance to the finals, where they faced Taiwan Beer, who finished the regular season in first place thanks to their 25-7 record. Taiwan Beer forward Kentrell Barkley of the US led the team with 23 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double, while his partner up front, Huang Tsung-han, had 17 points and three rebounds. [FULL  STORY]

Video: Meet the cook whose business is booming amid COVID-19 Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:38 AM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 24 April, 2020 By: John Van Trieste Many in Taiwan’s food service industry are hurting as the COVID-19 pandemic drives business away. But at least one cook here has actually seen business boom. The reason? Location, location, location. Ms. Chen of Chiayi is no stranger to the local jail. She is the owner of one of the few food establishments nearby, serving simple, classic Taiwanese fare. She is used to getting food delivery requests from the families of inmates, who want to give those on the inside a bit of variety in their meals. But whereas once these requests would only come in every once in a while, they have now exploded, becoming a big part of her revenue. She estimates that business is up around 20% thanks to these calls. It all started when people in Taiwan stopped going out so much due to fears about COVID-19. Family of inmates, too, have largely decided to stay home. Instead of visiting incarcerated loved ones and picking up some food for them on the way, they now mostly stay home and have Ms. Chen make the food and deliver it for them.    [FULL  STORY]

TSMC Starts 2nm Process Development for Fast, Efficient Chips Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT Tom's Hardware Date: April 24, 2020 By: Niels Broekhuijsen 2 hours ago At the start of this year we heard that TSMC was investing heavily in 5nm fabrication, and it's no secret that the next step after that is TSMC's 3nm process.The Taiwanese silicon manufacturer is looking beyond that process too, as it just announced to shareholders that it is starting development of its 2nm lithographic process, as spotted by DigiTimes. Painstakingly few details are available about the 2nm process. All we know is that TSMC is starting development — though it's safe to assume the end product will be very fast and more efficient than anything on the market today. Currently, TSMC's 7nm process is in its peak, receiving huge numbers of orders from AMD for its Ryzen 3000-series CPUs and Navi graphics cards. Other customers include Apple, and although Huawei was to be included, that doesn't appear to be working out so well. On the 5nm front, TSMC is working with EUV lithography, similar to what Samsung is accomplishing. The two chipmakers are neck-in-neck in the silicon race. According to DigiTimes, TSMC is expecting 10% of this year's revenue to come from its 5nm EUV lines.    [FULL  STORY]

Number of furloughed workers in Taiwan up again Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:09 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/24/2020 By: Wu Hsin-yun and Ko Lin (CNA file photo) Taipei, April 24 (CNA) The number of furloughed employees in Taiwan continued to rise over the past week because of the growing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country's economy. As of April 24, a total of 18,265 workers had agreed with their employers to go on unpaid leave, up 3,444 from seven days earlier, while 804 companies had unpaid leave programs, up 216 from a week earlier, the statistics showed. The number was the highest since the global financial crisis, when the number of people on unpaid leave peaked at just over 238,000 in February 2009. Taipei and New Taipei registered the highest number of furloughed workers at 8,480, consisting of 2,763 employees at 182 companies in Taipei and 5,717 workers at 253 firms in New Taipei. [FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: Rent cuts planned for over 9,000 firms Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:05 AM PDT CONTINUING INVESTMENTS: The economics ministry approved applications from seven small and medium-sized enterprises to invest a combined NT$2.3 billion Taipei Times Date: Apr 25, 2020 By: Natasha Li / Staff reporter The government is planning to reduce the rent for more than 9,000 local businesses by 20 percent, which would save them NT$660 million (21.94 million) in expenses, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ State-owned Enterprise Commission said yesterday. The commission yesterday proposed the rent reductions for companies leasing land from state-owned enterprises, including Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖), Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Taiwan Water Corp (台水), until the end of the year to help businesses weather the storm sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies could simultaneously apply to delay rental payment until the end of the year, it added. They would be allowed to pay the interest-free deferred rent over a maximum period of three years, the commission said.    [FULL  STORY]

VIDEO: Birdwatcher spots endangered Mikado pheasant Posted: 24 Apr 2020 10:01 AM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 24 April, 2020 By: Shirley Lin Mikado pheasant, an endangered species Mikado pheasant, an endangered species[/caption] The Mikado pheasant is one of Taiwan’s most beautiful bird species. But you’ll need a lot of luck to spot one in the wild. Recently, one birdwatcher had the unusual luck of spotting two. The Mikado pheasant is an endangered species of bird endemic to Taiwan. With their numbers low, it’s only natural that they aren’t easy to spot. That’s why it must have an unforgettable moment for one birdwatcher when he recently spotted both a male and a female in the mountains of Taichung as they were looking for food. Even if you’re not a bird expert, you might find the bird a little bit familiar, at least if you’ve ever seen Taiwanese currency. That’s because an image of these birds is on every NT$1,000 bill. [FULL  STORY]

China steps up manoeuvres near Taiwan Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:57 AM PDT New Europe Date: April 24, 2020 By: Elena Pavlovska Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (C) walks during her visit inside a military base amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Tainan, Taiwan, 09 April 2020. Medical experts are rushing to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and advising people to practice social distancing and proper hygiene. EPA-EFE/RITCHIE B. TONGO China in recent weeks has dramatically increased its military drills around Taiwan. The move is seen as Beijing’s provocation towards Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in a landslide in January. China has long held military drills in Taiwanese territorial waters and airspace. However this month, the People’s Liberation Army Airforce conducted a 36-hour endurance exercise. Relations between Taiwan and China have been on the decline since 2016 when Tsai, who has taken a more pro-Taiwan stance than her main competitor, was first elected president. Taiwan has earlier blamed China for stepping up its drills near to the island, instead of focusing its efforts on combating the spread of the coronavirus.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese scientists develop free videoconferencing system based on open-source software Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:50 AM PDT National Yang-Ming University professor leads effort of enhancing Jitsi Meet app Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/24 By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer (National Yang-Ming University image) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A team from Taiwan’s National Yang-Ming University has developed a videoconferencing platform with free access based on the open-source software Jitsi Meet. Led by Chen Yu-chun (陳育群), an assistant professor at the university’s School of Medicine, the team has incorporated new features to the application for improved security. Through a one-time encryption key, users will be able to convene virtual meetings without the need to sign in. The software can be connected via a local area network with limited access and the online meeting rooms will be closed automatically after all participants have left to ensure data security. The source code is now freely available. Chen, who is also a doctor at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, embarked on the project by tapping his experience in assisting the hospital to develop an online medical diagnosis system. As the need for online meetings increases with employees being asked to work remotely amid the coronavirus, he hopes to offer relevant expertise for the creation of a safer videoconferencing system. [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese company donates medical equipment to allies in fight against coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:33 AM PDT Made-in-Taiwan thermometer guns will go to 15 allies, US, Germany Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/24 By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer File photo of a previous international donation ceremony at MOFA (picture courtesy of MOFA)  TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TaiDoc Technology Corporation donated 35,000 thermometer guns and 250 sets of automatic measuring instruments, all of them made in Taiwan, to the country’s 15 official diplomatic allies as well as to the United States and Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Friday (April 24). At the ceremony marking the donation, foreign diplomats spoke highly of Taiwan’s efforts against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and of the quality of its products, Liberty Times reported. American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen said friends stand together in difficult times, showing that in these times, Taiwan has proven to be a true friend of the U.S. TaiDoc said that although most temperature gun makers have moved production to China, it has stayed in Taiwan. As Chinese-made products often encounter quality control problems, it is better for Taiwan to donate locally manufactured equipment to its allies, according to the New Taipei City-based company.    [FULL  STORY]

CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan, U.S. to co-host COVID-19 hackathon Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:27 AM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/24/2020 By: Wang Cheng-chung, Chen Yun-yu and Elizabeth Hsu Taipei, April 24 (CNA) A hackthon competition was announced in Taipei Friday by Taiwan's government and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), to boost the development of innovative solutions for controlling and stopping the global coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Hackathon (cohack) contest was jointly introduced by Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and AIT Director Brent Christensen to encourage experts in relevant sectors to help create application programs aimed at using data related to epidemic prevention and control in a more efficient and accurate manner. According to Audrey Tang (唐鳳), Taiwan's minister without portfolio responsible for digital technology, the cohack will be divided into six categories, including management of epidemic control resources, transition measures ahead of the end of the pandemic, and protection of socially-disadvantaged groups. The other three categories are the use of predictive tools for policy-making, ways to support frontline personnel in the struggle against COVID-19, and risk communication.    [FULL  STORY]