The TAIEX fell for a fifth day in six yesterday. United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest supplier of made-to-order semiconductors, led declines after saying last month's sales dropped from the previous month.
Petrochemical makers such as Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) gained. Japan's Mitsui Chemicals Inc said it will halt production of ammonium and other chemicals at a plant in Osaka after falsifying inspection records.
The TAIEX shed 17.95, or 0.3 percent, to 5,214.60. The benchmark has lost 3.3 percent since Aug. 4. Index futures expiring in August rose 0.9 percent to 5,251. About five stocks declined for every that two that gained.
About 2.7 billion shares changed hands, 39 percent below the average trading in the past three months. The value of trading was NT$66 billion, 32 percent below the three-month daily average.
UMC lost NT$0.30, or 1.3 percent, to NT$22.20. Last month's sales were NT$7.01 billion (US$203.4 million), a 0.2 percent drop from June. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) dropped NT$1, or 1.7 percent, to NT$57.
"UMC's latest sales report showed a feeble recovery in the semiconductor industry," said Simon Chao (趙永宏), who manages US$17 million at President Investment Trust Corp (統一投信) in Taipei.
Formosa Plastics, the nation's biggest maker of polyvinyl chloride, added NT$0.40, or 0.9 percent, to NT$47. Nan Ya Plastics, the country's biggest maker of plastics chemicals, climbed NT$0.30, or 0.8 percent, to NT$39.10.
Tokyo-based Mitsui Chemicals said in a release that production will be suspended until checks are completed at the plant. It said inspections were not completed from 2000 to last year and falsified reports were provided to regulators.
"Investors are betting Taiwanese petrochemical makers can benefit from Japanese rivals' problems," Chao said.
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the country's largest maker of the boards that hold the chips that run computers, gained NT$0.50, or 0.5 percent, to NT$94. Asustek said it shipped a record 2.5 million so-called motherboards last month, giving it a quarter of the world market, after winning Intel Corp as a customer.
Orders from Intel will increase through the rest of this year, said David Chang (張偉明), Asustek's deputy financial director.
Asustek's sales last month more than doubled to about NT$17.5 billion.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) was unchanged at NT$47.40 after earlier falling as much as 1.5 percent. Chunghwa said after the close of trading on Friday that last month's sales declined to NT$14.9 billion from NT$15.1 billion in June.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) added NT$0.50, or 0.4 percent, to NT$122.50. Hon Hai said on Saturday that sales last month rose 31 percent to NT$28 billion, compared with sales of NT$21.4 billion in July a year ago and NT$22.3 billion in June this year.
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
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