Tax Luncheon: Tax Challenges & Opportunities for Multinationals

On October 26, AmCham’s Tax Committee hosted a luncheon at the Regent Taipei, where Eunice Kuo, Partner of Deloitte China, gave a presentation on the Tax challenges and opportunities faced by multinational corporations in their supply chain management.

Synopsis of Kuo’s Presentation: 

Multinational companies have been constantly looking for optimal business transactional structures to streamline their operations and to optimize their tax efficiency. It has been common to see MNCs’ use of regional principal trading company, group intangibles owner and group financing and treasury center. Under the post-BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) environment, would these commonly seen structures still be safe for tax purposes after the OECD introduced BEPS action plans and Asia Pacific tax authorities have been modifying local rules to respond to BEPS actions?
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Kuo shared with with AmCham members and guests what MNCs should do to mitigate their tax risks while looking after tax efficient business transactions. Topics of discussion included

• Commonly seen business models in this Region
• BEPS actions which may impact on existing business models
• Discussion about value chain analysis
• Next steps for MNCs

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AmCham 2016 Cybersecurity Forum

With the U.S. presidential race embroiled in controversy due in no small part to hacked emails revealing intimate details of strategy and opinion, while Taiwan deals with a spectacular heist of local ATMs by Russian hackers based in London, the threat of cyber-attacks spans the globe.

Accordingly, on October 6, AmCham Taipei joined hands with three influential Taiwanese associations – the Information Service Industry Association of the R.O.C. (CISA), the Cloud Computing Association in Taiwan, and Taipei Computer Association (TCA) – to host the 2016 Cybersecurity Forum. Sponsored by Microsoft Taiwan and the FireEye internet security firm, the forum featured notable speakers representing the U.S. FBI, the Executive Yuan’s Department of Cyber Security, the Ministry of Justice, and Deloitte & Touche, as well as industry experts from FireEye, IBM, Intumit, and Microsoft.

The forum opened with recorded remarks by Audrey Tang, the celebrated “hacktivist” and now Minister without Portfolio, who described attacks against Taiwanese government and businesses as “one of the most urgent challenges that we have to deal with.” Tang said that only by assuring cybersecurity “can we realize the full potential” of the internet as a “vibrant force for economic, social and cultural development.”

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Rod Morgan, AmCham Technology co-chair and head of Inotera/Micron in Taiwan, introduced the speakers, starting with Joshua Kim, the U.S. FBI legal attaché for Hong Kong-Taipei. According to Kim, a cyberattack follows a general “kill chain,” which starts with reconnaissance of a system for vulnerabilities, penetration and delivery of malicious code to take control of the target computers, and finally, data or money theft, or network destabilization.

The Cybersecurity Management Act

Taiwan’s government is developing its Cybersecurity Management Act to establish the legal and regulatory framework to “help government and the private sector to improve cybersecurity and risk management,” noted Jyan Hong-wei, Director-General for the Department of Cybersecurity under the Executive Yuan. Jyan said that while the government has a number of executive orders targeted at improving cybersecurity, the scope of these orders is too narrow and neglects critical infrastructure owned and managed by the private sector.

The new act fills these gaps by offering a comprehensive law covering both central and local government as well as state-owned enterprises and critical infrastructure providers in the private sector. Jyan noted that the proposed law would not cover the private sector as a whole, an assurance that industry welcomed as making the scope of the law more workable. AmCham’s Technology Committee also welcomed his invitation for companies and organizations to provide their suggestions and input.

Wu Fu-mei, deputy director of the Information and Communication Security (ICS) division within the Ministry of Justice, presented a glimpse at the MOJ’s efforts to investigate and combat cybercrime in Taiwan. The ICS employs Taiwan’s first accredited laboratory for computer forensics. This forensics lab is crucial to investigating proliferating cases of “ransomware,” in which a victim’s data is stolen and encrypted and the criminals demand payment for its return, as well as cyberattacks committed by insiders within an organization and APT (Advanced Persistent Threats), which are ongoing, sophisticated threats such as presented by China’s infamous hacker army.

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Wu’s deputy, Lo Yueng-tien, special agent in the Cyber Crime section, gave a separate presentation detailing the hack of the First Bank ATMs in which a Eastern European gang attempted to steal over US$2 million. Thanks to savvy detective work by Taiwan’s investigators combined with clumsy footwork by the criminals, most of the perpetrators were arrested and the money largely recovered.

Hans A. Barre, senior manager for Risk Advisory with Deloitte & Touche, then gave a presentation reminding corporate leaders to prepare for the inevitability of cyber-attacks and remain actively involved in both prevention and recovery.

Expanding Awareness

A panel discussion moderated by AmCham Technology Committee co-chair Revital Golan followed with participants Vincent Shih, assistant general counsel and GM of Microsoft’s legal affairs division; Hsu Wei-lun, senior manager with IBM Taiwan; JD Chiou, CEO of Intumit, Inc. and a Judicial Yuan advisor; and Jarvett Lin, Greater China manager for FireEye. The panelists stressed the need for every member of an organization to be aware of cybersecurity. Hacking victim First Bank, for example, took all of the right steps towards preventing a cyber-attack, yet access was obtained through a spear-phishing attack. (Recent evidence indicates that the Democratic National Committee emails were likewise hacked through spear phishing.)

Cyberattacks seem to be on the rise, and organizations need to prepare to defend their data as well as mitigate the damage and recover from losses, the panelists said. Vincent Shih of Microsoft starkly divided the world’s companies into two kinds: those that know that they have been hacked and are doing something about it, and those that don’t yet know that they have been hacked.

“That’s the real situation right now,” Shih said. “We need to expand this awareness.”

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Joint Luncheon on Global Banking Regulations

On October 14, Ronald Gould, Chairman of Think Alliance Group, spoke to AmCham members and guests at a Joint Committee Luncheon on the topic of Global Banking Regulations Compliance issues, including Dodd-Frank, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Know Your Customer rules (KYC).

Large multinational financial institutions, regional banks and even predominately Asian financial holdings with only a limited presence in the United States have been caught off-guard by changing rules and expectations from regulatory authorities.

In reality, AML and KYC compliance is nothing new. But the level of complexity and cross-border ramifications are not well understood. Mr. Gould shared his insights so that listeners might be made more aware and better prepared to handle these issues in the future, in an ever-changing, increasingly complex and globalized economy.

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Some topics covered during Mr. Gould’s presentation included:

  • Changing global regulatory requirements
  • Emerging trends and industry practices for global banks and asset managers
  • More intrusive regulatory oversight, implications of the Dodd-Frank Act in the US that will affect financial institutions and asset managers globally
  • Greater focus on governance, management and compliance including KYC and AML
  • Challenges and opportunities for Taiwan

This event was a joint committee luncheon, hosted by the AmCham Banking, Asset Management, and Capital Markets committees.

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Infrastructure Committee: Taiwan Government Procurement and the Future of Public Works

This event was conducted in Mandarin.

為營造公平合理良性競爭的公共建設環境,工程會積極推動相關改革措施,例如研擬政府採購法修正案;鼓勵機關靈活善用採購策略,重大工程建設採最有利標,評選具履約能力之優質廠商。吳主委將說明具體配套作法,並介紹臺灣公共建設發展現況,以及未來推動之重大公共建設計畫,包括創新臺灣、能源臺灣及便捷臺灣之相關建設,期望促進創新產業,加強綠能建設及便捷海陸空交通,提升臺灣國際競爭力。

Learn more about the AmCham Infrastructure Committee

See all upcoming AmCham Taipei Events here.

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Taiwan Biotech Industry Heats Up

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Biotech is hot in Taiwan, with a number of high profile companies emerging over the past few years with significant market capitalizations on the promise of bold new drugs and the incoming administration of Tsai Ing-wen promising even greater support.

At the AmCham Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical, and Public Health Joint Committee Luncheon on April 19, Dr. Chi Wei-kuang, Director and Distinguished Scientist of Bioengineering Group at the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB) shared “Taiwan’s vision and current stage in biotech industry.”

Some key takeaways offered by Dr. Chi include:

  • Taiwanese firms are involved in both the production of conventional “small molecule” pharmaceuticals as well as the development of cutting edge “large molecule” biological drugs derived from cells
  • Taiwan’s biotech firms include Taimed, Medigen, TaiGen, TopoGenomics, TTY Biopharma and many others with a combined market cap of US$23 billion
  • Taiwan currently has 96 drugs in the development pipeline, over half of them in Stage 2 clinical trials
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Dr. Chi Wei-kuang presents the Taiwan biotech industry’s “Diamond Action Plan” to AmCham Taipei leaders.

The newer field of Biological drugs is seen as offering highest value with lower capital investment and operating costs, where key areas for drug development include oncology, central nervous system (CNS) disease, infectious disease, and inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

Since the early 1980s Taiwan’s government has been offering support to the biotech industry through a number of policies and organizations, but major funding for the industry only occurred over the last 5-6 years.

Key policies to watch for the Taiwan Biotech Industry:

  • Statute for the Development of Biotech New Drug Industry
  • Biotech Industry Takeoff Action Plan
  • Diamond Action Plan for Biotech Takeoff

Key organizations involved in the industry’s advancement

  • Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB)
  • Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA)
  • Biomedical Engineering Research Center (ITRI)

Funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan’s DCB offers support bridging the gap between primary research and drug commercialization. The National Research Program for Biopharmaceuticals will expire in 2016, but will be replaced by the BioEconomy Plan.

Taiwanese biotech firms, though small, are highly innovative and are actively collaborating with foreign firms for advanced clinical trials and drug development. Continued government support is vital for the industry to fulfill its vision.

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AmCham Taipei Vice Chairwoman Libby Driscoll (left) and Chairman Dan Silver (right) present Chi Wei-kuang with a token of appreciation following his presentation.

Tips and Tricks from Facebook: How to Reach your Audience

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Katie Harbath, Global Head of Politics and Government Outreach, Facebook spoke to AmCham members and guests at a special luncheon March 31 at the Sherwood Taipei.

Harbath, formerly a digital political strategist in the United States before joining Facebook, offered a wealth of insights for how to build meaningful connections and engagement on Facebook for politicians, companies, and other organizations.

Steps to Building a Facebook strategy:

  • Identify your goals. Reach, video views, engagement, list building? “You have to make sure that you are optimizing for the things that are most important to you.”
  • Determine your branding point of view. “What are the attributes that you want people to take away? Does the content that you are putting out match those attributes.”
  • Combine social media with traditional media strategies. These two departments should not be separate. More and more people are getting their news through Facebook, but that is still from traditional news sources.”
  • Focus on good content. “Sometimes I see people making the mistake of getting really excited about all of our targeting tools and all the different ways they can reach different audiences but they don’t focus on the fundamentals of making sure they’ve got great content.”
  • Engage your fans. “People respond a lot more when they know there’s somebody on the other side of that page listening to them and actually respond and engage with them.”
  • Test, iterate, improve, repeat. “At Facebook, we have to keep constantly evolving because how people are consuming content is evolving. And so you also have to think about your own strategies to make sure you are reaching people the way they want to be reached.”

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Taiwan’s Role in the Future of Computer Memory

Micron CEO Mark Durcan addresses AmCham Taipei Guests at a Special Luncheon on March 10 regarding the semiconductor industry in Taiwan

Micron Technology CEO Mark Durcan spoke to AmCham Taipei guests on March 10 at a special Global Executive Insights luncheon, offering a wealth of knowledge about future trends in the global computer memory industry and a clear summary of why Taiwan plays such a large role in the sector. Durcan’s full presentation is available below.

2015 Semiconductor Market Breakdown

Durcan stressed three major trends in the memory segment of the semiconductor industry:

1. Supplier consolidation:

Major semiconductor manufacturers continue to consolidate through mergers and acquisitions.

2. Diversification of end markets

During the dotcom boom and bust over 70% of memory was dedicated to PC applications. Today only 25% goes to PCs, while demand for memory in mobile devices and server/cloud applications soars. Significant growth for memory demand can also be seen in other advanced fields:

  • Automotive: crash avoidance technology
  • Medical: advanced diagnostics
  • Graphics: augmented/virtual reality and gaming

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3. Slowing supply growth

While demand growth for memory (measured in bits) continues to rise, the amount of new bits that can be produced each year by the industry through advances in existing technology is plateauing.

The result is a gradual shift away from supplying memory products to major OEMs, towards a diversified end market – and an increasing demand for more customized, innovative memory solutions for individual customers.

Looking forward

Due to the slowing technology-driven scaling of existing memory types (NAND and DRAM), Micron has begun to explore the development of new memory products, including:

3D NAND – a new configuration of existing NAND memory chips has tripled the capacity of existing NAND products, allowing 3.5TB to be stored in a space the size of a stick of gum while greatly reducing power consumption

3D Xpoint – An entirely new type of memory (the first in decades), Durcan claims that 3D Xpoint has the potential to dramatically transform computing architectures, boasting speeds and densities 1000x greater than those of NAND.

Taiwan’s Role

Micron, one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, produces 60% of it’s DRAM memory chips in Taiwan alone. Since 2008, Micron has invested US$8bn in Taiwan, with another $4bn pending the completion of their acquisition of Inotera. Durcan stressed repeatedly the importance of Taiwan to the success of Micron’s semiconductor business, highlighting several key factors that contribute to its optimal business environment:

  • Advanced education programs produce a high quality talent pool, with experience in semiconductor technology and strong work ethic
  • A Supportive and business-friendly government and regulatory environment.
  • A strong, quality-focused technology manufacturing ecosystem that drives a cost-competitive environment, as well as a high-quality test and assembly infrastructure
  • Proximity to large markets such as China, with engineers and other talent who speak the same language and live in the same time zone as customers from these markets
  • Historically affordable energy costs

AmCham Taipei would like to thank Mark Durcan and Micron for their time and willingness to share their insight with the Taiwan business community at this AmCham Special Luncheon.