Stocks declined for a second day amid concerns the spread of a deadly disease will hurt economic growth. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
The TAIEX tumbled 141.40, or 3.2 percent, to 4,233.54. The index shed 9.1 percent this week, its biggest weekly decline since September 2001. Only 37 of 610 stocks on the Taiwan Stock Exchange gained.
MSCI Taiwan futures for April delivery in Singapore declined 3.6 percent to 180.20. The Taiwan Futures Index dropped 3.3 percent to 4,211.
"Things are getting worse," said Simon Chao (趙永宏), who manages US$17 million at President Investment Trust Corp (統一投信).
"Taiwan's efforts to contain the spread of SARS have failed," he said.
Taiwanese companies, many with manufacturing plants in China, are already experiencing disruptions. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
Notebook-computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) said it may relocate some production from China. Lite-On Technology Inc (光寶科技), the nation's largest maker of computer monitors, issued facemasks and took temperatures at an investors' briefing today.
TSMC dropped NT$1.8, or 3.8 percent, to NT$45.50. UMC, its biggest rival, fell NT$0.70, or 3.4 percent, to NT$19.90.
Chi Mei shed NT$1.9, or 6.7 percent, to NT$26.50. Compal fell NT$1.7, or 4.4 percent, to NT$36.60. Acer Inc fell NT$1.1, or 3.3 percent, to NT$32.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) fell NT$0.20, or 1 percent, to NT$19.50. The world's fourth-largest maker of flat-panel displays forecast full-year 2003 profit of NT$2.58 billion (US$74 million) on a 27 percent increase in sales to NT$96.3 billion.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) stated Friday that decisions on whether the National Stabilization Fund should intervene in the market to prop up shares must be decided by the fund's committee and that he has no right to represent the fund to make that decision.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day