The TAIEX fell yesterday, led by makers of computer chips such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), on concern their stock gains may have outpaced profit growth.
The TAIEX shed 22.06, or 0.4 percent, to 5,623.22. Six stocks rose for every five that declined. The futures contract for September delivery fell 0.3 percent to 5,652.
About 2.4 billion shares changed hands, or 47 percent below the average volume in the past three months. Shares worth NT$61.2 billion (US$1.8 billion) were traded.
Shares of TSMC fell NT$1, or 1.5 percent, to NT$67. The stock has gained 70 percent this year, compared with the TAIEX's 26 percent advance. UMC has risen 44 percent. UMC shares yesterday lost NT$1, or 3.3 percent, to NT$29.30.
"The semiconductor industry recovery is indisputable, but TSMC's and UMC's recent rally has already adjusted for it," said Phil Chen, a fund manager at Grand Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co (
"Investors will need a bigger boost to propel semiconductor shares higher," he said.
Construction was the only sector to trade in positive territory throughout the session. It rose 3.1 percent overall. Analysts said preferential loans recently launched by the government for home buyers should help boost property sales.
Flat-panel display makers such as AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) rose on optimism that they will need to expand to meet stronger demand. AU Optronics and two rival flat-panel display makers plan to sell debt totaling NT$54 billion (US$1.5 billion) to help fund expansion, a Chinese-language newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unidentified bankers.
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
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
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts