Philips may sell TSMC shares
Royal Philips NV said it may sell as many as 500 million common shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to reduce debt.
The stake that Philips may sell was worth NT$34.75 billion (US$1.03 billion) at the close of regular trading in Taipei yesterday.
The sale would reduce Philips's 21.5 percent stake in TSMC to as low as 19.1 percent, the Amsterdam-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
"While we'll remain among the largest shareholders in TSMC for the foreseeable future, we believe that in the long term our shareholders would benefit most from a gradual and orderly reduction in this holding," Philips chief financial officer Jan Hommen said in the statement.
TSMC says it's near capacity
TSMC said it's using more than 95 percent of its most advanced production capacity as demand increases for digital cameras and other gadgets.
"In the last quarter, we've seen a pickup in demand for consumer electronics and communications chips," vice president Chiang Shang-yi (蔣尚義) said.
"Personal computer demand has been strong," Chiang said.
Using more of its most advanced and profitable equipment will help to boost earnings for TSMC, which posted its highest quarterly profit in two years in the second quarter after the company's overall factory use rose to 88 percent.
Anti-piracy campaign paying off
The government's efforts to clamp down on pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs have noticeably paid off since the Copyright Law (著作權法) was amended in July requiring the prosecution of manufacturers and sellers of fake discs, said Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生), director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Intellectual Property Office, at a press conference.
Tsai denied a media report that claimed Taiwan is one of the world's three largest sources of pirated discs, calling the figures cited in the report "groundless."
He said the police ad hoc group seized a total of 5,906 pirated CDs and 8,001 counterfeit DVDs and VCDs during the second half of August at night markets nationwide.
Last month, a total of 11,411 fake CDs and 22,098 DVDs and VCDs were nabbed, he said.
In addition, a ministry special committee made a total of 807 inspections on 76 disc manufacturing factories across the country during the first nine months of this year, a large increase from the year-earlier level of 144, he said.
Foreign capital pouring in
A total of US$3.247 billion in foreign capital was channeled into the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp last month, the second-highest level following the record monthly high of US$4.218 billion posted in August, an official of the Securities and Futures Commission reported yesterday.
According to the official, qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) and non-QFII investors poured US$60.121 billion into the nation during the first nine months of this year -- US$51.465 billion by QFII and US$8.656 billion by non-QFII -- representing a growth of US$3.247 billion over the US$56.874 billion as of Aug. 31.
Since the QFII mechanism was adopted in 1991 to regulate foreign investment in the securities and stock markets, foreign institutional investors had made a total of 2,539 investment applications -- including 732 first applications -- as of Oct. 2, when the QFII system was abolished.
NT dollar gains strength
The New Taiwan dollar traded higher against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.025 to close at NT$33.768 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$913 million.
RSS