Stocks dropped for a second day, led by computer-related companies and chipmakers, after Quanta Computer Inc (
"The recover in the computer industry remains weak and now some investors are worried that war will exacerbate the slow-down," said Jerry Chen, who manages the NT$3.5 billion (US$101 million) Excellent Fund at First Global Investment Trust Co (元大投信).
The TAIEX slid 98.21, or 2 percent, to 4,735.37. The index declined as much as 4 percent in early trading. About five stocks fell for every one gained.
The Singapore-based MSCI Taiwan futures for February delivery lost 2.5 percent to 194.90.
Quanta tumbled NT$2, or 3.3 percent, to NT$59.50. Fourth-quarter profit fell 2.1 percent to NT$2.76 billion from a year ago, lagging the average NT$3.2 billion forecast in a Bloomberg survey of five analysts. Quanta clients include Dell Computer Corp.
"Electronics makers are struggling as consumers are now less willing to buy expensive computers and want more for their money," said Tracy Chen, who manages NT$2.6 billion funds at Prudential Securities Investment Trust Co (保誠投信).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC,
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
AU Optronics Corp (
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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