Stocks gained yesterday, snapping a three-day decline. Computer-related companies such as Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) rose on optimism of higher demand for personal computers.
Eric Gomberg, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners, raised his profit and sales estimates for Intel Corp, the world's largest computer chipmaker by sales, for the rest of this year and next year in anticipation of increasing demand for computer products.
"The computer industry has showed good recovery," said Celine Chiang (江宜津), who manages the equivalent of US$16 million in Polaris International Securities Investment Trust Co's (寶來投信) Chronicle Fund.
"The recovery will propel the market to move higher," she said.
The TAIEX rose 109.88, or 2.1 percent, to 5,349.94. About four stocks gained for every one that declined. July futures on the index rose 2.8 percent to 5,412.
About 6.1 billion shares changed hands, 57 percent above the average trading in the past three months. The value of trading was NT$143.1 billion (US$4.2 billion), 77 percent above the three-month daily average.
Stocks also rose following the legislature's shelving last week a proposed law that would allow for the nation's first referendum, which may anger China.
Quanta, the county's largest notebook computer maker, rose NT$3, or 3.8 percent, to NT$82.
TSMC, the world's largest maker of computer chips on a subcontracting basis for clients such as Intel, gained NT$2, or 3.5 percent, to NT$59.50. Rival United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) was up NT$0.60 at NT$26.50 ahead of going ex-dividend for 4.01 percent in stock Tuesday.
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), the nation's biggest maker of memory chips for electronic games, rose NT$0.60, or 6.6 percent, to NT$9.75. Macronix may invest tens of millions of dollars more in Tower Semiconductor Ltd, an Israeli maker of chips to order, Globes newspaper said, citing Macronix's president Miin Wu (吳敏求). Macronix has already invested US$75 million in a plant of Migdal Ha'emek, Israel-based Tower Semiconductor, the paper said.
Wu said Macronix has invested a total of US$100 million in Israeli companies, the paper added.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) was flat at 51.00 on 5.87 million shares in a muted response to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications decision to delay its auction of 200 million Chunghwa Telecom shares to July 17 from July 15 due to US regulatory issues.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained