Taiwan warns firms on tech exports to Iran, North Korea
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(InfoWorld) - Taiwan issued a warning to local companies not to export electronics components and other items that could be used to make military equipment to Iran or North Korea, promising penalties for failure to comply. "We have had a few cases recently where customs officials have caught sensitive products that were to be exported, and told the companies that they needed to gain permission to export such items to these countries. None of those items got past customs," said James Wu, deputy director general of Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade. It's an important reminder for Taiwanese companies because the island is one of the world's largest suppliers of high tech components such as semiconductors and PC parts, including DRAM (dynamic RAM) and motherboards, as well as precision tools. Taiwanese companies also engage in trade with North Korea, Iran, and other countries deemed high risk for the export of certain items that can be used to make military hardware. The government sent out a statement to companies and posted a notice on its Web site as a reminder that certain electronic components, chemicals, and machine tools can be used to make weapons, and therefore cannot be exported to North Korea and Iran. The list of controlled items includes consumer electronics devices such as computers, laser printers, optical disc drives, digital mobile phones and digital cameras, as well as industrial products such as silicon wafers and manufacturing robots and more unusual items such as heavy water or mushroom spawn containing narcotics. Last year, the government increased the number of sensitive products to 542 items, from about 300 previously. The change was partly the result of talks with the U.S., according to the statement released Tuesday. Violators of the policy can face jail time if officials believe they intentionally tried to export sensitive items, or for repeat attempts. But in most cases, companies have unknowingly boxed up sensitive items to ship overseas, and were given warnings, Wu said. The government can also cancel or suspend a company's export license for failure to comply with the ban.
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Beijing calls on Washington to halt a sale of missiles to Taiwan, warning it will harm stability and bilateral ties.
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The US Department of Defense has notified Congress that it plans to sell Taiwan missiles worth 421 million US dollars, which would help boost the island's defenses against rival China.
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China warns Japan its granting of a sight-seeing visa to former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui will harm ties.
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(InfoWorld) - The head of the world's largest contract chip maker said his industry will have trouble maintaining sales and profit growth in the future because the overall chip industry has slowed down and there's a lot more competition. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) plans to expand to new markets and find new work in product areas such as chips for mobile phones, digital cameras, and other consumer electronics devices in order to meet these challenges, said Morris Chang, the chairman of TSMC, at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco on Monday. The company released information from his speech. Overall revenue growth in the chip industry has slowed to around 6 percent per year between 2000 and 2010, from 16 percent each year prior to 2000, he said. At the same time, more new rivals have entered the contract chip making business. His company will have to find new ways to grow despite these challenges, he said. "Growth opportunities exist in cell-phone applications, game systems, digital TV, LCD displays, power management, MP3 devices, and digital cameras," a paper Chang submitted to the conference reads. Developing closer relationships with the chip design companies that create chips for these kinds of products will be a key strategy for TSMC in the future. TSMC manufactures chips that are designed by other companies, a business model it pioneered. Prior to the Taiwanese company's founding, small chip design firms had to ask Intel, Motorola, and other big chip makers to make their chips, and these companies would only comply if their factories weren't being fully used already. Most small companies didn't have enough money to set up their own chip factory because the high tech plants used to cost around $1 billion each. Now, a new one can cost $3.5 billion. TSMC stepped in to fill the gap, and the result has been the steady growth of chip design companies that never build their own factories. They rely on TSMC or other foundry chip makers, including Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), to manufacture their chips. Mobile phone chip developer Qualcomm and graphics chip designer Nvidia are two examples of companies that have been wildly successful, despite not owning their own factories. They farm out production to foundries such as TSMC and UMC. The success of TSMC and UMC has caused a number of new competitors to enter the chip foundry business. IBM, Samsung Semiconductor, and China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC)Â are all examples of latecomers to the foundry business. These new rivals have been able to survive, and in some cases thrive. "The growth of the industry has attracted many companies to offer foundry services. Consequently, competition between these companies increases the potential for commoditization of foundry services," according to Chang's report. He goes on to say that going forward, the best defense for TSMC will be to engage with chip design customers far earlier in the developing stage of their products, and to offer a wider range of production services. TSMC and UMC hold around a 75 percent share of the global chip foundry business, according to investment banking firm Merrill Lynch & Co. Last week, TSMC said itÂ opened its first office Bangalore, India, to find new customers and help existing ones complete their chip designs faster and bring products more quickly to market. Â
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Iran faces the risk of sanctions after a   U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Thursday likely to find that   Tehran has ignored a deadline to halt an atomic fuel program   Western leaders say could lead to bombs.
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Taiwan may have the technology to mass produce mid-range missiles capable of striking Shanghai in two years, a lawmaker said, adding teeth to Premier Yu Shyi-kun&#39;s warning that the island will retaliate if China attacks.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has already produced over 80 products using 90nm processes, and the company expects to tape out 40 more products at this technology node by the end of this year, according to Genda Hu, vice president of
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Beijing, Sept 29. (PTI): China today warned Taiwanese leaders against clamouring for a cross-Straits war and stressed that the island&#39;s bid for independence was doomed to failure.
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TAIPEI - China is likely to have 800 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan before the end of 2006, Taipei&#39;s defence minister said yesterday as he pressed the case for an US$18-billion ($30.
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(InfoWorld) - Earlier this year, members of Chinese and Taiwanese IT associations announced broad plans to work together to jointly develop and promote Linux as well as home-grown standards for certain IT components. The idea is to match Taiwanâs technology prowess with Chinaâs huge number of users as a base for a global Linux putsch, and to create new standards to compete with global initiatives from Blu-ray to CDMA (Code Division Mutliple Access). At an IT trade show in Shanghai, IDG News Service (IDGNS) caught up with Roger Liao, deputy director of international affairs at one of Taiwanâs biggest industry groups, the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturersâ Association (TEEMA), to discuss progress on both fronts, in addition to other IT developments in China. IDG News Service: How is work on Linux progressing? Whatâs popular and whatâs not in Taiwan and China? Liao: It really depends on what kind of product youâre talking about. For example, China really wants to promote Linux as an OS, because itâs more stable. But Microsoft is by far the more popular OS here because people are used to it and it has a larger market share. Microsoftâs recent deal with Novell is another aspect thatâs very interesting, but itâs too early to say how that will affect Linux development and usage in China. Linux is still mostly used in servers and as embedded software in China and Taiwan. A number of Taiwanese companies have opened Linux development centers in China for embedded software development. Although Chinese engineers are less experienced, they are not expensive to hire, and they learn quickly. Even we (TEEMA) use Chinese engineers for all of our software needs, but thatâs mostly our Web site and e-commerce platform. IDGNS: What about the development of new technology standards? Weâve heard a lot about meetings between Taiwanese and Chinese IT associations to create new global technology standards. Whatâs been accomplished so far? Liao: Thereâs not a lot going on so far, just a lot of talking. Developing standards is very difficult, itâs actually a very political issue. Itâs something we (Taiwan-China) always talk about â we even held discussions at the recent APEC meeting (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Hanoi, Nov. 18,19) â but nothing concrete has come from these discussions. Most of our members are manufacturers, contract manufacturers, so they normally wait and see what standard wins out, and then embrace the winner. Thatâs the way itâs been for years, and I donât see it changing anytime soon. IDGNS: Speaking of manufacturing, is the growth of China really hurting Taiwanese manufacturers? Liao: A lot of Taiwanese companies are already using China as a manufacturing base, so theyâre taking advantage of the low costs. But the other issue is quality. Even Chinese companies that are making components on their own, well their quality isnât as good as Taiwan. There are also more risks in doing business with China. Chinese companies will always say âcan doâ even if they canât, which is a problem if your business depends on their delivery. So overall, it may be less expensive on the surface, but other problems such as low quality and business risk in China can increase expenses over the long run, and then it doesnât seem so cheap anymore. Taiwan has been involved in international business for years, particularly in IT. China is rather new to the game, and they still have a lot to learn. Taiwan is actually the best partner for foreigners to approach using China as a manufacturing base and as a market. Japanese companies tend to prefer partnering with Taiwanese companies when entering China. They take advantage of Taiwanâs long experience in China as well as better communication skills (Mandarin is spoken in both Taiwan and China). Itâs more difficult for Japanese companies to do it on their own, the costs are much higher. They definitely can do it, but there is a learning curve and itâs expensive to climb. Taiwan still has a big advantage in know-how, the knowledge of the local people, the education, and the experience with international business practices and standards. (Liao was in Shanghai for a major electronics trade show in China, a three-in-one combo; the China Electronics Fair (CEF Shanghai 2006), Asia Electronics Exhibition in Shanghai (AAES 2006), and the 2006 International Electronics Expo (IEE Shanghai 2006).ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Bill aimed at companies with presence in America could result in trade war, say diplomats.
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The Bush administration expressed  concern on Tuesday about Iran's pursuit of longer-range  ballistic missiles and imposed sanctions on Chinese companies  it accused of helping Tehran in those efforts.
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(InfoWorld) - Chinese companies will be welcome to exhibit at Taiwan's annual Computex IT next year, the show's organizers said Saturday. The announcement came as organizers revealed a 10 percent increase in the number of foreign visitors at this year's show compared to last year. About 33,000 visitors from overseas attended this year's fair versus 30,275 last year, said Walter Yeh, executive vice president of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, at a Taipei news conference held as the fair ended its five-day run. Local visitor numbers saw a more modest increase from 100,177 last year to around 103,000 this year, he said. Both figures were a little above organizer targets. The rise in visitor numbers is impressive given the weather that Taipei has been experiencing this week. The usually hot and humid weather seen during early June was replaced this year by day after day of torrential rain that has caused deadly landslides elsewhere on the island. "We will make good arrangements with heaven," Yeh said of Computex 2008. Next year's show will see exhibitors split between the four exhibition halls that currently house the expo and a new center some distance away. Organizers hope to arrange shuttle buses to take people between the sites and estimate it will take 15 minutes -- a possibly optimistic goal given anecdotal journey times this week of around 30 minutes. The organizers are yet to decide how they will split the show but promise the new space will mean next year's show will see around 4,500 booths versus the 2,926 at Computex 2007. Yeh said the show this year had waiting list about 500 companies long, so Computex 2008 should not only mean they are welcome but will also signal the opening of the show's doors to companies from China. Until now, Chinese companies have not been welcome at the Taiwanese show due to space issues, said Yeh. "We don't have enough space, but next year, we will have space," he said. "Some of their best manufacturers can be here, we will welcome them." Yeh added he is confident that Chinese companies will appear at Computex 2008. China and Taiwan separated in 1949 during a civil war between the Nationalist army of Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist forces of Mao Zedong. The two sides never reconciled, and China has repeatedly threatened to attack Taiwan if the island formally declares independence from the mainland.
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The Bush administration imposed  penalties this month against some of China's largest companies  for aiding Iran's efforts to improve its ballistic missiles,  The New York Times reported on Monday.
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A Singapore-based cargo forwarding company has been fined S$22,000 ($14,500) for trying to export missile parts to Iran without permission, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday, quoting Singapore Customs.
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Taiwan's government approved plans by four chip testing and packaging firms to invest in China, an official said Thursday, as the country further eases long-standing restrictions on high-tech investment in its communist rival.