This is, however, despite the Taiwan chipmaker saying that it would not “reveal confidential client information to the US government”. 

Taiwan’s TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co) is arguably the most important player in the global semiconductor industry. 

It also said in a statement last week that it will “respond to” a request by the US Commerce Department that sought information from chip companies in the semiconductor supply chain. Other chipmakers include South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and the United State’s Intel. 

As reported by SCMP, the specifics of the information that TSMC will provide to the US is still unknown. However, the company said it won’t disclose “confidential information” from clients and “will not harm the rights of our customers and shareholders.”

According to the US government, their request was aimed at getting to the root of the global chip shortage. With that said, no Chinese company was directly involved.

Despite these assurances, however, the Chinese were not placated. 

AS CHINA STRUGGLES WITH A CHIP SHORTAGE, OPPO DEVELOPS ITS OWN

Dashveenjit Kaur | 29 October, 2021

According to SCMP, who spoke to Xi Chen, an academic committee member at Peking University’s Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, the data could “potentially help Washington impose sanctions on Chinese companies in a more precise way”.

The semiconductor market in China is by far the largest, accounting for about 35% of the global market share, surpassing the US, Europe, Japan, and even Taiwan, which is home to the largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips.

Criticisms of Taiwan’s TSMC appeared on multiple digital media platforms, such as Weibo, WeChat, and various websites.

“We believe that TSMC, Samsung, and other semiconductor companies may provide relatively insensitive information in response to the US government,” said Eric Tseng, chief executive of Taiwan-based research firm Isaiah Research.

“But key information related to customers’ trade secrets and rights, such as customer lists, order contents, and amounts, will be kept confidential to maintain the long-standing trust between TSMC and its customers,” he added.

CHINA’S MOST ADVANCED CHIP MAY SOON COME FROM ALIBABA

Dashveenjit Kaur | 21 October, 2021

The US Commerce Department requested that domestic and overseas players in the semiconductor value chain “voluntarily” provide information about their sales, inventory, and client details to quantify semiconductor supply chain risks.

As the world’s most advanced wafer foundry, TSMC plays a critical role in China’s quest to be chip self-sufficient. Previously, the Taiwanese foundry had complied with US sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co, which had crushed the once-behemoth of a smartphone maker.

Additionally, TSMC had also ceased the production of chips for Phytium Information Technology Co, one of the seven Chinese supercomputer-related organizations added to the US Entity List in April, dealing a blow to China’s pursuit of supercomputing.

In September this year, top chip manufacturers in China have been speeding up efforts to boost production, with the country’s top contract chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), is planning to build a new fabrication facility that will become China’s largest such facility used for products other than memory.

The post China boiling mad over Taiwan’s TSMC handing over chip data to the US appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Microsoft looks to be the latest tech giant planning a “significant investment” in Taiwan, with moves underway to establish Microsoft’s first cloud data center region there by 2024.

The US software giant will also invest in developing local digital talents for over 200,000 people over the four years, with an eye towards turning Taiwan into an Asian design hub and home for Microsoft’s expanded Azure hardware engineering team.

Once operational, the new cloud data center region will become one of 66 global cloud regions under its belt, Microsoft clarified in a statement, and will deliver Azure cloud services along with Microsoft 365, before adding Dynamics 365 and Power Platform services to the services offered later on.

Microsoft did say the Taiwan region would include Availability Zones, which are physically separate locations within an Azure region, each comprising of at least one data center equipped with its own independent power, cooling, and networking.

To ensure data and operational resiliency, a minimum of three separate zones are established in all enabled regions, a move that Microsoft has said aims to safeguard applications and data from datacentre failures. A Southeast Asia Azure Availability Zone served out of Singapore, was launched in December 2018.

Microsoft has longstanding ties with the Taiwanese technology fraternity, having previously launched an Internet of Things (IoT) research center in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, to connect startups and study integrating cloud and data services with the IoT supply chain.

The Windows OS creator also works with local tech firms like Acer, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and Trend Micro to build customized applications for their clientele. To meet the regional industry regulatory requirements, Microsoft stated that its local region would support more than 90 compliance certifications imposed on the local technology sector.

The Azure cloud data center region expansion in APAC echoes other regional cloud data center growth by other American cloud giants, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Ironically, Google was the first American tech giant to build a data center in Taiwan, nearly eight years ago.

ZDNet shared that a Microsoft spokesperson would not reveal details about the size of its investment in new data center locations, or how many customers can be supported on its local cloud data center – only that the company intends to build “scalable and resilient” infrastructure to support the needs of its customers in the market.

“What we can share right now is that cloud is creating new business opportunities that will help support economic recovery. Building the datacenter region in Taiwan is timely as it will continue to accelerate the digital transformation journey of businesses and organizations,” the Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet, also revealing the facility will be part of Microsoft’s aim to be carbon negative by 2030, fully tapping renewable energy for its data centers by 2025.

TAIWAN, US FORGING 5G SUPPLY CHAIN BASED ON ‘SHARED VALUES’

Joe Devanesan | 12 October, 2020

“The [Taiwan cloud] data center region will enable private and public sectors to further embrace innovation through our cloud products and services.  More specifically, Microsoft Cloud in Taiwan will help customers to meet local data residency requirements within Taiwan, especially for highly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services and public sector.”

The Redmond, Washington-headquartered company did not outline how many new people would be hired to man its regional infrastructure engineering team that it plans to establish. But it does target to equip a minimum of 200,000 individuals in Taiwan with digital skillsets over the next four years, offering skills acquisition programs for youth, non-profits, startups, and enterprises, with planned initiatives including reskilling workshops for women.

The post Why Microsoft is bringing an Azure cloud region to Taiwan appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ahead of Apple’s upcoming iPhone launch, A-series chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reported a 22% surge in quarterly sales.

According to Bloomberg’s calculations from TSMC’s monthly sales data, the latter saw revenue for the three months to September climb to a record NT$356.4 billion (US$12.4 billion), up from NT$293 billion a year earlier.

Apple is one of the chipmaker’s biggest customers and business will often increase in the months before Apple unveils new iPhones and the holiday season, amid solid and growing demand for chips for 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and high-performance computing applications.

For the first nine months of the year, TSMC reported record accumulated sales of NT$977.722 billion, up 29.9% from a year earlier.

Reports suggest that TSMC is likely to receive a boost during the quarter as its second-largest customer Huawei Technologies raced to stockpile supplies before a US ban on shipments to the Chinese telecom giant came into effect last month. 

Meanwhile, rival chipmaker Samsung Electronics reported recent earnings that beat analyst estimates after it’s mobile and chip businesses benefited from the curbs on Huawei.

Concurrently, Taiwanese chipmakers United Microelectronics Corp. and MediaTek also reported strong sales, suggesting a broad recovery in the industry.

The computer chips made by TSMC aren’t just the brains inside smartphones, laptops, and video game consoles — they’re also core components of almost every kind of electronic equipment in the world, from that used in data centers to F-35 fighter jets. Along with nearly 500 others, Apple, Huawei, Sony, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and HiSilicon are all TSMC’s clients.

Leading companies like Huawei and Apple design but don’t actually manufacture their own chips unlike integrated device manufacturers, such as Intel and Samsung, which design and then make the chips used in their own products.

TSMC’s model is that of a dedicated “pure-play” foundry: it only operates on a contract basis and doesn’t sell devices of its own design. 

Over the last three decades, TSMC has invested in 18 state-of-the-art chipmaking facilities — called “fabs,” for “fabrication facility” — in Taiwan and today the firm accounts for more than half of the US$42 billion foundry segment of the semiconductor industry. In July this year, it raised its 2020 outlook, highlighting that revenue this year will grow by more than 20% in dollar terms. 

TSMC executives also affirmed plans to build a plant in Arizona, saying that the US administration and the state of Arizona closed the cost gap for building the fab. 

The company had previously said the $12 billion facilities will begin construction in 2021, with production targeted to begin in 2024. 

The post TSMC sales surge ahead of new Apple iPhone launch appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The shortcomings and inefficiencies of global supply chains is apparent across many industries this year, with most cross-border supply routes being interrupted in one way or another.

Moreover, recent comments suggest that relying too heavily on any one country or supplier for critical goods like medication is a recipe for disaster – and the same could be said when it comes to supplying critical materials of strategic importance to shared economies, such as the 5G equipment that will be used to build the next generation of networking infrastructure around the globe.

Or at least, that is the outlook of Brent Christensen, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) who made the comments at the International Investment Forum in Taipei last week, hosted by the Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Council of Taiwan.

In a transcript just released by the AIT, Christensen was speaking on how the US was working with unofficial ally Taiwan to restructure international supply chain routes in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated global trade and production output, including major delays to planned 5G network rollouts throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Christensen emphasized the importance of the US working with “like-minded partners” like Taiwan, Japan, and the EU, to design new supply chains based on “shared values” like transparency and accountability.

Taiwan is an important cog in the hi-tech supply chain ecosystem, a manufacturer and supplier of critical components like semiconductor chips and cloud servers, for many of the biggest tech and electronics brands worldwide including those in the US and China. Taiwan’s most prolific manufacturer, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), recently severed its long-running ties with China’s 5G equipment market leader Huawei Technologies, following fresh American trade restrictions that explicitly prohibit the US and its allies from supplying Huawei with valuable tech components.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen and National Communications Commission Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang hold signed copies of a joint declaration on 5G security. Source: Taipei Times

TSMC’s decision to discontinue its Huawei relationship, combined with its plans to up its US-based investment sends “an unmistakable signal that the future of high-tech supply chains remains in the US-Taiwan nexus,” according to Christensen, further citing reciprocity, respect for the rule of law, and human rights as other intrinsic values shared by Taiwan and the US.

“We would call these American values. We would also call them Taiwan values,” said Christensen. Huawei has been heavily in the sights of the US, amid allegations of state-endorsed spying on American businesses and end-users. By law, Chinese firms are compelled to turn over information, including user data, should the government request it.

SUPPLY CHAINS ARE IN DISARRAY – HERE ARE THREE FOCUS AREAS

Adlina AR | 19 March, 2020

Christensen’s AIT had an eventful week, teaming up with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US to issue a joint declaration on 5G security later that same week. Commenting on the US’ planned ‘Open 5G’ strategy to not use any parts from China’s 5G equipment makers Huawei or ZTE Corp, the declaration pointed out four criteria that “fair competition” 5G suppliers should possess:

Network hardware and software suppliers should not be subject, without independent judicial review, to control by a foreign government; suppliers should be financed openly and transparently; suppliers should have transparent ownership, partnerships, and corporate governance structures; and they should exemplify a commitment to innovation and respect for intellectual property rights.

Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, said the joint declaration shows the US-Taiwan partnership is cemented in the cybersecurity field as much as in 5G supply lines, and that Taiwan will continue cooperating with the US to develop 5G network standards.

Wu pointed out that all of Taiwan’s 5G suppliers — Chunghwa Telecom Co, Taiwan Mobile Co, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co, Asia Pacific Telecom Co, and Taiwan Star Telecom Co – align with the US’ standards for a “clean” 5G supply chain partner.

The post Taiwan, US forging 5G supply chain based on ‘shared values’ appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The shortcomings and inefficiencies of global supply chains is apparent across many industries this year, with most cross-border supply routes being interrupted in one way or another.

Moreover, recent comments suggest that relying too heavily on any one country or supplier for critical goods like medication is a recipe for disaster – and the same could be said when it comes to supplying critical materials of strategic importance to shared economies, such as the 5G equipment that will be used to build the next generation of networking infrastructure around the globe.

Or at least, that is the outlook of Brent Christensen, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) who made the comments at the International Investment Forum in Taipei last week, hosted by the Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Council of Taiwan.

In a transcript just released by the AIT, Christensen was speaking on how the US was working with unofficial ally Taiwan to restructure international supply chain routes in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated global trade and production output, including major delays to planned 5G network rollouts throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Christensen emphasized the importance of the US working with “like-minded partners” like Taiwan, Japan, and the EU, to design new supply chains based on “shared values” like transparency and accountability.

Taiwan is an important cog in the hi-tech supply chain ecosystem, a manufacturer and supplier of critical components like semiconductor chips and cloud servers, for many of the biggest tech and electronics brands worldwide including those in the US and China. Taiwan’s most prolific manufacturer, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), recently severed its long-running ties with China’s 5G equipment market leader Huawei Technologies, following fresh American trade restrictions that explicitly prohibit the US and its allies from supplying Huawei with valuable tech components.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen and National Communications Commission Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang hold signed copies of a joint declaration on 5G security. Source: Taipei Times

TSMC’s decision to discontinue its Huawei relationship, combined with its plans to up its US-based investment sends “an unmistakable signal that the future of high-tech supply chains remains in the US-Taiwan nexus,” according to Christensen, further citing reciprocity, respect for the rule of law, and human rights as other intrinsic values shared by Taiwan and the US.

“We would call these American values. We would also call them Taiwan values,” said Christensen. Huawei has been heavily in the sights of the US, amid allegations of state-endorsed spying on American businesses and end-users. By law, Chinese firms are compelled to turn over information, including user data, should the government request it.

SUPPLY CHAINS ARE IN DISARRAY – HERE ARE THREE FOCUS AREAS

Adlina AR | 19 March, 2020

Christensen’s AIT had an eventful week, teaming up with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US to issue a joint declaration on 5G security later that same week. Commenting on the US’ planned ‘Open 5G’ strategy to not use any parts from China’s 5G equipment makers Huawei or ZTE Corp, the declaration pointed out four criteria that “fair competition” 5G suppliers should possess:

Network hardware and software suppliers should not be subject, without independent judicial review, to control by a foreign government; suppliers should be financed openly and transparently; suppliers should have transparent ownership, partnerships, and corporate governance structures; and they should exemplify a commitment to innovation and respect for intellectual property rights.

Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, said the joint declaration shows the US-Taiwan partnership is cemented in the cybersecurity field as much as in 5G supply lines, and that Taiwan will continue cooperating with the US to develop 5G network standards.

Wu pointed out that all of Taiwan’s 5G suppliers — Chunghwa Telecom Co, Taiwan Mobile Co, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co, Asia Pacific Telecom Co, and Taiwan Star Telecom Co – align with the US’ standards for a “clean” 5G supply chain partner.

The post Taiwan, US forging 5G supply chain based on ‘shared values’ appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The global technology trade war took some unexpected turns as we crossed the midpoint of 2020. Unsurprisingly, the world’s two largest economies — the US and China — are right in the thick of it, firing the latest salvos in a simmering standoff. But the surprise flashpoint is turning out to be the unheralded, yet crucial, Taiwan semiconductor industry.

At the center of it all is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). TSMC might not be a household name like Apple, but semiconductor foundries like TSMC are essential to the production of devices like the ubiquitous iPhone.

Semiconductor manufacturing is essential tradecraft, a critical component of high-performance electronics. Found in everything from smartphones to guided missiles. Now, TSMC is basically the Hermès of silicon chip-making, producing high quality, super-advanced microchips at a large production scale.

Top electronic brands do not manufacture their own chips but procure them from TSMC, which controls around half of the worldwide chip-making market, ahead of both South Korea’s Samsung and the US-based Intel. This pivotal position at the center of the global semiconductor trade has drawn sharper focus ever since China and the US renewed trade hostilities, as both superpowers attempt to assure their own supply of precious semiconductors while politicking around the other.

The latest offensive sees the American Trump administration clamping down further on restrictions it had imposed on China’s tech juggernaut Huawei. In May, the US Department of Commerce expanded prohibitions that were intended to force all semiconductor chip manufacturers who use US “chipmaking equipment, intellectual property or design software will have to apply for a license before shipping chips to Huawei.”

TSMC relies on American tech to manufacture its quality chips, and any application for an export license to Huawei and its chip subsidiary HiSilicon would likely be denied, as the US tries to keep 5G technology leader Huawei out of the global 5G network loop.

This prevented TSMC from taking further orders from Huawei, which had been providing 13% of its revenue stream, including making the chips for Huawei’s 5G base stations. Losing its biggest Chinese customer was offset in late July when rival Intel was hit by major manufacturing delays to its 7-nanometer chips production and announced it may outsource production.

TSMC’s advanced processing chip business dwarfs nearest rival Samsung’s, and the news of the potential order caused TSMC’s stock to skyrocket by nearly 50% – the knock-on effect to TSMC’s valuation placed it among the top 10 most valuable companies on the planet.

The Taiwan semiconductor trade at a glance

The Taiwan semiconductor trade (including United Microelectronics Corporation which holds around 7.3% of the global market, plus other smaller players) is in a unique position between the crosshairs of the two global superpowers. Long at political loggerheads with China and sometimes an (unofficial) ally of the US, profitable business ties with the two depend on an open trade market.

SAMSUNG FOSTERS KOREAN CHIP SUPPLY CHAIN TO END FOREIGN DEPENDENCY

Joe Devanesan | 6 July, 2020

This is especially true for TSMC, which has gone as far as building a US$12 billion manufacturing plant in Arizona to appease the Trump administration, which wants to have more cutting-edge chip-making capabilities within the US.

Despite frosty diplomatic relations, TSMC is China’s biggest contract supplier, making chips for the likes of smartphone giant Xiaomi, computer maker Lenovo, and electric-vehicle (EV) firms. Between COVID-19 fallout and American sanctions, China’s booming tech economy might be caught out if it cannot access the world’s biggest and most reliable semiconductor chip maker to boot.

The post Taiwan — the unlikely frontier for the global tech arms race appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Finnish telecommunications company Nokia has nailed down an exclusive 5G contract with Taiwan Mobile, the second-largest mobile operator in Taiwan, in a deal worth around US$450 million.

The arrangement became official just shortly after Taiwan Mobile became the third mobile operator to secure a 5G spectrum license in the country, following federal telecommunications regulator NCC approval of the telco’s 5G plan.

According to NCC Chief Secretary Hsiao Chi-hong, Taiwan Mobile has amended its 5G plan to now target deploying 4,000 5G base stations by the end of 2020, compared to its previous plan which would have seen 2,000 base stations deployed this year.

In Taiwan’s 5G spectrum auction back in January, Taiwan Mobile (TWM) had previously acquired the 60 megahertz spectrum in the mid 3.5 gigahertz band, as well as the 200 megahertz in the high 28 gigahertz frequency. The deal with Nokia will see TWM using the Finnish company’s 5G radios, core, and IP multimedia subsystem in the implementation of its 5G infrastructure, along with Nokia cloud and security software.

In a statement, Nokia said, “Nokia is a longstanding partner of TWM and has previously provided its 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks. Nokia has made several key contributions to TWM’s 5G development including a demonstration of a 5G network with extended coverage at the Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City.”

The Nokia announcement with Taiwan Mobile reveals that all three major telco operators in Taiwan have avoided using 5G services from Chinese telecommunications heavyweight Huawei, considered by many to have the most advanced 5G networking capabilities in the world.

But charges of state-sponsored spying leveled at Huawei by the US government, has seen many American ally nations including Australia, Japan, Singapore and to a lesser extent New Zealand considering a combination of European network vendors Nokia and Swedish rival Ericsson.

Taiwan’s largest carrier Chunghwa Telecom, for instance, intends to roll out its 5G network this month with Ericsson providing the network core and the radio kits for Chunghwa Telecom’s 3.5GHz and 28GHz spectrum bands, while Nokia said it will be responsible for 5G radio deployment in central and southern Taiwan.

Both European companies claim a history of working with Taiwan’s largest mobile network that is longer than any concerns over Huawei’s possibly superior technology: Ericsson says it has been working with Chunghwa Telecom on 5G since 2017, and Nokia not to be overshadowed, says it has a working relationship with the telco since 1973.

Chunghwa Telecom was the first Taiwanese telco to receive its 5G license from the NCC, and has already been deploying 5G base stations in the municipalities of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Meanwhile, FarEasTone secured the second 5G license in Taiwan, and has selected Ericsson to supply its 5G services in order to reduce the complexity of the migration from 4G to 5G, as FarEasTone was already working with Ericsson as the sole vendor for its existing 4G LTE network.

TAIWAN SEES A DIGITAL FUTURE SHARED WITH APEC MEMBERS

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Chunghwa Telecom expects to launch its 5G network this month, with both Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone expecting their networks to be up and running before the year-end.

The post Nokia secures Taiwan Mobile 5G network, to launch this year appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The ride-hailing company announced their comeback in Taiwan on Wednesday, on one condition – Uber will have to partner with licensed rental car companies in order to resume their services in Taipei.

welcome back to #Taiwan #Uber pic.twitter.com/JwOWpllCPs

— ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ) (@joshualiu93) April 10, 2017

Prior to Uber suspending its services there, the Taiwanese government slapped a massive fine on the company as part of a crackdown on unlicensed ride-sharing services. By February, Uber had been ordered to pay T$328.59 million (US$10.57 million), totaled up after higher penalties took effect the month before.

Uber originally protested and fought against the fines, penning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen an open letter requesting her intervention.

In the letter, Mike Brown, Uber’s regional general manager for Asia Pacific, wrote: “We ask you, President Tsai, to please guide the dialogue on innovation, by convening a public hearing on ridesharing and letting Taiwan decide.

“We believe it’s time to turn the conversation away from innovation-blocking actions and towards smart regulations that unlock economic opportunities and consumer choice for all.”

But when that didn’t work, the company decided to suspend its operations on February 10 until they were able to come to a workable solution with the Taiwanese authorities.

SEE ALSO: Jailhouse shock: Taiwan prison aims to jump-start island’s solar power dream

Likai Gu, general manager of Uber Taiwan, said in Wednesday’s statement: “We want to partner with more legal transportation service partners in weeks and months to come, whether they be from rental car companies or the taxi industry.”

Journalist David Spencer opined in local news portal Taiwan News that the return of Uber was something to celebrate in the island nation, as it signaled a market that was ready to welcome new technologies and business models.

He wrote: “Progress should be embraced by all and Uber’s success is beneficial to everyone in Taiwan, both through the quicker and cheaper transportation it facilitates, and the indicators that Taiwan’s free market is alive and open for business.”

However, Kuomintang legislator Jason Hsu said in a Facebook post, translated by The News Lens, that the government has not yet reconciled the legal differences between online ride-sharing platforms and the traditional taxi industry – which could throw a spanner in Uber’s works.

In order to strengthen its position there, Hsu suggested Uber pay off its fines and taxes, and consider investing more in Taiwan. He wrote: “If Uber truly values the Taiwan market, then it should invest further in Taiwan and use local engineers and developers. It’s not enough to just maintain a sales office here.”

The post Uber welcomed back to Taiwan, will partner with rental car companies appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ex-cop Chen, serving time for bribery, is learning how to install solar panels in a program that is part of Taiwan’s shimmering vision of a future without nuclear power.

The 48-year-old is working on a project which has seen the southern Taiwan prison become the first to send solar power into the island’s electricity grid.

“I should be out in two, three years,” said Chen, whose full name can’t be disclosed under prison rules, “this should help (in finding a future job).”

Things are looking up for Chen, selected for the solar team on good behavior.

But with a capacity of 1.8 megawatts, enough to supply power to 639 average Taiwanese households for a year, the drop-in-the-ocean Pingtung project highlights the towering scale of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s pledge to make the island nuclear-free by 2025.

SEE ALSO: Bill Gates’ clean energy fund means for the US and other Asian producers

Nuclear accounts for around 14 percent of Taiwan’s total electricity generation.

Renewable sources, including solar, wind and hydro, together account for less than five percent, leaving the 2025 goal of having renewables – primarily solar – account for a fifth of electricity generation by 2025 looking like a mirage.

At Pingtung prison, where temperatures outside can peak around 33 degrees Celsius in summer, the chief of project manager Taichung-based Lixma Tech Co said the arithmetic was simple: It’s not possible for renewables, dependent on weather conditions, to be a main supply source.

“Renewable energy can reduce and replace a lot of traditional power generation – coal or nuclear power – only during peak electricity consumption periods,” said Lixma chief executive Thomas Hsu.

#Taiwan is 2nd largest #solar-cell producer, but lacks involvement in #international #energy cooperation, read more https://t.co/ZoOXslhjR2

— AmCham Taipei (@AmChamTaipei) February 23, 2017

With plentiful sunshine at its disposal, Taiwan has certainly made progress in expanding solar energy in recent years.

From current capacity of about 1,061 megawatts, Taipei is targeting about double that amount by mid-2018, with other jails among those considering solar projects, Pingtung prison officials said.

But to match official government targets of having solar power account for 73 percent of total renewable energy capacity by 2025, Taiwan would need nearly 20 times’ current solar power capacity within nine years – about 20,000 megawatts.

That kind of power could mean panels taking up around 25,000ha of space on the island – nearly the size of capital Taipei.

Roadblocks vs consensus

While Pingtung sees Taiwan joining the ranks of countries from the US to Brazil and South Africa in developing solar prison projects, the island will have to resolve numerous serious roadblocks if it’s to implement the massive rollout of renewables it needs to meet its goals, experts and industry insiders say.

Problems in grid transmission for renewable energy, outdated regulations governing a power industry long dominated by state monopoly Taiwan Power Co – known as Taipower – environmental concerns and rival interests among government agencies and local communities are among issues to be overcome.

“The biggest uncertainty is how to get consensus among the various stakeholders,” said Laurence Li, head of the government’s Renewable Energy Project Office in Taipei, who says private sector players are eager to participate.

While a key player in encouraging renewables projects like the Pingtung prison, Taipower is also the principal operator of Taiwan’s nuclear energy industry, as well as coal and liquefied natural gas plants.

Financing development is another issue.

At Pingtung prison, Lixma shoulders all costs and says it will receive around T$9 million (US$292,000) a year from Taipower for the solar power from the prison.

Hsu said the firm won’t break even on the project until the ninth year of its 20-year contract with the prison and Taipower.

Better known in Taiwan for the aged soy sauce its inmates have been making for decades, Pingtung prison is content to offer its 10,000sq m of roof space for the 6,000 installed panels for the advancement of renewables.

SEE ALSO: S. Korea pairs state utility, private tech giants in $37 bln bid to seize global green energy lead

“We are primarily a resource for absorbing solar energy,” said vice-warden Lin Cheng-rong.

“It is the companies with technical capabilities who invest and set up the solar panels and who sell the solar energy to Taipower,” Lin said.

Part of the central government’s corrections agency, the prison can’t keep revenue from the solar energy it is generating, or even directly use the power itself.

Before lights-out at 9 pm, its bulbs run on electricity from the Taipower grid.

For inmate Chen, each night brings release and the day he no longer needs his no. 24 prison vest a step closer.

Once the solar panel installation is complete, he’ll return to tending crops on prison grounds as part of his regular prison life – but with rooftop views still firmly on his mind. – Reuters

The post Jailhouse shock: Taiwan prison aims to jump-start island’s solar power dream appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The methods that the so-called Cobalt group used in Europe matched those used in Taiwan, Group-IB said in its latest client report.

Three Eastern European men were arrested in Taiwan in July on suspicion of collecting cash stolen from ATMs owned by First Commercial Bank, a unit of First Financial Holding Co Ltd .

SEE ALSO: India: Twitter hackers criticize banking system as ‘deeply flawed’

Attorneys for the three defendants in an ongoing trial in Taipei told Reuters their clients were not familiar with Cobalt.

The men – identified in court documents as Peregudovs Andrejs of Latvia, Colibaba Mihail of Romania and Pencov Nicolae of Moldova – were among a total of 22 individuals, all foreign nationals, that Taiwanese authorities suspect of taking part in the theft, where most of the money was subsequently recovered.

The suspects used malware dubbed “ATM spitter” in the First Commercial Bank attacks, as well as similar hacks in countries including Armenia, Belarus, Britain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia and Spain, Group-IB said in a report to its customers that Reuters reviewed on Thursday.

RIPPER #malware To Blame For Recent Taiwan Bank ATM Heist https://t.co/QVM2Bc7rQ7 via @Sec_Cyber

— Júlio César Melo (@JulioCyberSec) September 6, 2016

Group-IB first detailed the European spree in a report published in November, identifying the hackers as the Cobalt group.

The firm linked Cobalt to the Taiwan heist in its report last week.

Investigators in Taiwan told Reuters they were not aware of any links between Cobalt and the hackers behind the First Commercial Bank heist.

SEE ALSO: Cybersecurity in Asia: Is the region equipped to deal with cyber attacks?

“What we can say is the people behind this hacking were very good,” a Taiwanese investigator familiar with the case told Reuters, on condition of anonymity because the investigator was not authorized to speak with media.

The defendants, who maintain their innocence, said in a court hearing on Wednesday that they were not members of any international crime organization.

Taipei prosecutors have said they suspect First Commercial Bank’s network was breached at a London branch office. – Reuters

The post Taiwan ATM heist linked to European hacking spree – security firm appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.