The company said revenue this quarter would reach between US$95 million and US$105 million, with an estimated gross margin of between 41.5 percent and 44.5 percent. The epidemic is likely to be resolved soon, allowing business to return to normal by the third quarter, he added. Parade is shipping a small amount of the PCIe 4.0 devices at the moment, Zhao said, indicating that the product is still being tested by its client Intel Corp, which last month reportedly delayed PCIe 4.0 support for its upcoming Comet Lake series of desktop processors. The company is also focusing on sales of more traditional high-speed interface products, such as USB-C 3.1 and 3.2, to increase segment revenue, Zhao said. Last quarter, the company posted a slight year-on-year decline of 7.66 percent in net profit to US$20.72 million.

By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe Taiwan Creative Content Agency is to make its international trade fair debut at the European Film Market in Berlin next week, the agency said yesterday. Last year, the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion platform presented Chi with the MM2 Creative Award and the Content Digital Film Award. The agency is expected to participate in 20 international trade fairs this year, its president, Hu Ching-fang (胡晴舫), said at a news conference in Taipei. The European Film Market opens on Thursday next week, alongside the 70th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, also known as the Berlinale. The film, which stars Golden Horse Award-winning actor Lee Kang-sheng (李康生) and Laotian actor Anong Houngheuangsy, is to premiere at the festival, the agency said.

Staff writer with CNATaiwan has been invited to join the US-led International Religious Freedom Alliance as an observer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday, in response to reports that the US Department of State has excluded Taiwan from the 27-country alliance, despite Taiwan’s financial support. “How can the United States government push other countries to include Taiwan if the State Department won’t include Taiwan in its own initiatives?” he asked. Taiwan and the US share common values in democracy, freedom and human rights, while maintaining close collaboration in promoting religious freedom across the world, Ou said. Its delegates at the event were the Taiwanese Representative to the US Stanley Kuo (高碩泰) and Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Pusin Tali, Ou said. Last year, US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback also attended a regional religious forum hosted by Taiwan, titled “A Civil Society Dialogue on Securing Religious Freedom in the Indo-Pacific Region,” Ou said.

AFP, BEIJINGChina’s official death toll from an outbreak of COVID-19 yesterday spiked dramatically after authorities changed their counting methods, fueling concern that the epidemic is far worse than being reported. Under criticism at home over the handling of the crisis, the Chinese Communist Party dismissed two top-ranking officials in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak. Criticism intensified after the death of a doctor who had in December last year tried to raise the alarm about the outbreak, but was silenced by authorities. The leaders of Hubei and Wuhan were fired yesterday, the highest-profile political casualties of the crisis. Shanghai mayor Ying Yong (應勇) took over the top provincial post, while an official from eastern Shandong Province was appointed in Wuhan.

By Kevin RuddNo matter how bad the coronavirus epidemic gets, the crisis will not change how China is governed under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The coronavirus crisis represents the single biggest challenge for Xi since he became CCP general secretary in 2012. To understand why, one must consider the underlying worldview that guides Xi as he seeks to realize his dream of making China the global great power of the future. Second, Xi believes that he must always maintain national unity, because that is central to the CCP’s internal legitimacy. Xi understands that the economy’s size, strength and technological sophistication are central to all dimensions of national power, including military capacity.

AFP, WASHINGTONIt is too early to tell the economic toll from the COVID-19 outbreak in China, but the hit to global growth should be “mild,” IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday. This virus is clearly more impactful and the world economy then was very strong,” she said. The IMF projects China’s economy to grow 6 percent this year, compared with 10 percent in 2003. US officials likewise are reluctant to provide forecasts, but said the impact on the US economy probably would be short-lived. “There’s no question it’s having a significant impact in China,” US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin told legislators on Wednesday.

Many experts are warning it could be months before the outbreak is brought under control. The multiplex proudly posted a graphic of an indicative seating plan with “Xs” marking empty seats, similar to an airplane seating reservation map. Now I don’t need to worry whether I’ll get infected by the person next to me.”This is problematic on many levels. The government has repeatedly urged the public to avoid crowded, enclosed spaces until the outbreak is no longer a threat. In spite of this, the public continues to worry, lining up outside drugstores for hours to get hold of their weekly ration of two masks.

However, GMA News and Public Affairs reported that Duterte is seeking more time before he makes a decision on whether to lift the ban. Manila on Monday included Taiwan in the temporary travel ban — which initially only targeted visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau when it was announced last week — wreaking havoc on airlines and travel agencies. The Philippine government could finalize the decision today after a Cabinet meeting, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said when asked for comment on Duterte’s remarks. After Manila makes a decision, Taiwan would consider the overall situation and decide on its response, she said. Taiwan continues communicating with relevant agencies of the Philippine government and hopes that Manila will make the right decision, Ou said.

Former department of health directors Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) and Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), and former minister of health and welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延), also endorsed the petition. “It is wrong that China has been using politics to interfere with [Taiwan’s] disease prevention efforts,” he said. Credit for successful disease prevention goes to the government’s strategies and utilization of technology after it set up an infectious disease prevention network after SARS, tightened disease prevention measures at hospitals, conducted annual on-site simulation drills and established virus labs, Lin said. Taiwan can contribute to global health by lending its experience to developing countries, Lin said. The WHO on Tuesday officially named the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, COVID-19.

Staff writer, with CNAThe US military sent a P-3C anti-submarine bomber to patrol south of Taiwan yesterday, the second day in a row that the US Air Force has deployed aircraft near Taiwan after Chinese jets earlier this week flew missions that circled the nation. “An American P-3C aircraft took off from US Kadena Air Force Base [in Okinawa, Japan] this morning. “The Ministry of National Defense fully monitored the aircraft’s passage and said it was a routine mission by the US Air Force,” Wang wrote. Taiwanese F-16 jets scrambled to monitor the movement of the Chinese military planes, which briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, prompting verbal warnings. “The US Air Force is responding to China’s military threats against Taiwan, since it is quite unusual for it to fly missions to Taiwan’s east and west at the same time,” defense expert Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.

In a letter addressed to the editor, the doctors described the transmission of the virus from a woman who had lived in Wuhan, China, to her husband. The woman returned to Taiwan on Jan. 20, the letter said, adding that she had been living in Wuhan for about three months. “Fever and myalgia developed in the woman on Jan. 25, a total of five days after she returned to Taiwan from Wuhan,” the letter said. “This suggests transmission shortly after his wife returned to Taiwan,” the letter said. The husband “works primarily at home” and “reported that he had not traveled to any region where SARS-CoV-2 transmission was known to be occurring,” it said.

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe government has issued the first vehicle license plate to be used in autonomous vehicle trials since it began to enforce the Act for Uncrewed Vehicle Technology Innovations and Experiments (無人載具科技創新實驗條例) in October last year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Earlier this month, Kinwaytek Technology Co, a subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom Co, received the nation’s first license plate for autonomous vehicle trials. Lin and several other government officials were yesterday invited to visit the company’s testing ground for autonomous vehicles at Taoyuan’s Hutoushan Innovation Hub (虎頭山創新園區). Autonomous vehicles are the driver in the nation’s development of smart transportation systems, Lin said in an interview on the sidelines of the event, adding that local governments have been eagerly facilitating driverless vehicle development. Communications technology has made development of other innovative applications possible, the department added.

By Shih Hsiao-kuang, Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerThe Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) elections for party chairperson and Central Standing Committee members would not be postponed unless the government bans public gatherings due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the KMT said yesterday. KMT Culture and Communications Committee acting director Alicia Wang (王育敏) made the comments after former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) called for the voting, set for March 7, to be postponed. Meanwhile, Wang accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of politicizing the issue of flying Taiwanese stranded in China home amid the COVID-19 outbreak. TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the KMT has provided the TPP with much-needed experience regarding the Legislative Yuan, to which the TPP are newcomers. However, the TPP would like disease prevention leave, how subsidies are distributed and a core demand for fiscal discipline added to the proposal.

Reuters, PARISTelecoms lobby GSMA is to hold a board meeting tomorrow to discuss the possible cancelation of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, after several big-name withdrawals because of the COVID-19 outbreak, an industry source said on Tuesday. The world event was put in jeopardy after the coronavirus outbreak prompted US technology and telecom heavyweights, such as Cisco Systems Inc, Sprint Corp and Facebook Inc, to pull out. “Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won’t be attending this year’s Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” Facebook said in a statement. Spanish Minister of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare Salvador Illa on Tuesday told reporters that there is no public health reason for the event not to go ahead. Illa added that additional health measures related to the MWC could be announced yesterday.

By Liu Yu-ching and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerWith the nation banning mask exports, Coast Guard Administration officials in Penghu County yesterday seized tens of thousands of masks on board a fishing vessel. There were more than 71,000 masks in 195 boxes, of which 70 contained N95 respirators, officials said. As there is a ban on mask exports, people are allowed to carry only up to five boxes of masks for personal use when passing through customs, officials said. Given the large quantity of masks, particularly the medical-grade respirators, found onboard the boat, the coast guard said that it would need to conduct an investigation. The ban on mask exports is in effect from Jan. 24 to Feb. 23 to ensure an adequate supply of masks for domestic use, Coast Guard Administration 7th Corps Deputy Chief Cheng Wen-hao (鄭文豪) said.