Chips for Japan's Elpida
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), Taiwan's third-largest computer-memory chipmaker, said it will start supplying memory chips to Japan's Elpida Memory Inc and multipurpose semiconductors to Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
Powerchip will make chips that provide the main memory in personal computers at its 12-inch silicon wafer factory in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Powerchip President Michael Tsai (蔡國智) told reporters in Taipei. The company will use Elpida's technology to squeeze more chips onto each wafer, he said.
Lower production costs and long-term orders will help increase the earnings of Powerchip, which posted a loss in five out of the past six quarters, some investors said.
Softchina bounces checks
Softchina Corp (華彩軟體), a local software developer and retailer, said yesterday that some of its checks bounced this week and its board members are currently looking into the matter, according to a statement Softchina filed at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In the statement, the company didn't explain why the checks bounced and how it is going to solve the problem.
Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) and Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀), are currently the two biggest shareholders of the firm, accounting for 12.7-percent stake and 10.53-percent statke, respectively.
Both Teco and Industrial Bank said yesterday in a statement that they are evaluating whether to continue financing Softchina. They also don't rule out the possibility of seeking other investors to take over the debt-ridden company, it said.
Growth potential
The development of video-on-demand technology and a rapid growth of interactive Internet services to households will stimulate the growth of the semiconductor market, an executive of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) said yesterday.
TSMC Chief Technology Officer Hu Cheng-ming (胡正明) said at a forum on electronic design automation in Hsinchu that although the semiconductor industry suffers ebbs and flows, it remains a sector with great potential.
The combined production value of semiconductor industries all over the world amounted to US$130 billion, which represents less than 0.3 percent of the world industrial production, showing that there is still tremendous room for growth in the sector, according to Hu.
Covering for debts
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Taiwan's second-largest carrier, plans to sell NT$2.31 billion ($66 million) of new shares at the end of the year to pay debt.
The airline plans to offer 220 million new shares for NT$10.50 each, according to the company's application to the Securities & Futures Commission. That's a 19 percent discount to today's closing share price.
The company said it had NT$77.6 billion of debt at the end of June.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar continued to fell against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.014 to close at NT$34.993 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$460 million, up from the previous day's US$353 million.
Traders said the local currency was pressured by news that the shutdown of 29 US ports on West Coast will have a severe impact on the nation's economy. It opened at NT$34.985 and traded between NT$34.982 and NT$35.015 during the session.
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