The TAIEX fell for a second day yesterday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
The TAIEX fell 14.04, or 0.2 percent, to 5,924.38. It fell as much as 0.4 percent and rose as much as 0.7 percent in earlier trading. Rising and falling stocks were about even. The futures contract for October delivery fell 0.5 percent to 5,950.
Bush will attend the meeting of the APEC forum in Bangkok next week. Officials in the US, Taiwan's second-largest export market, have been calling for central banks in China and Japan to ease sales of their currencies aimed at keeping their exports competitive.
"There's pressure for the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate in the future, meaning lower gross margins at electronics exporters," said Julian Chen, who manages equity funds totaling US$56 million at National Investment Trust Co in Taipei.
Evergreen Marine fell NT$1.70, or 5.7 percent, to NT$28.10.
Cathay Financial Holding Corp (
In contrast to sharp losses among financial stocks, electronics shares gained 0.5 percent as a whole, partly due to better-than-expected earnings from chip giant Intel Corp reported overnight in the US.
TSMC, the world's biggest maker of made-to-order computer chips, fell NT$0.50, or 0.7 percent, to NT$68. Rival United Microelectronics Corp (
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光) rose NT$1.40, or 5.1 percent, to NT$29.10. The nation's biggest chip packager rose after Intel Corp's third-quarter profit beat some analysts' estimates, suggesting industrywide sales are picking up.
Macronix International Co (
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest notebook computer maker, rose NT$1, or 1.1 percent, to NT$90 after a local newspaper report that the company said it expects sales to rise 42 percent next year because more PC buyers are choosing laptops instead of desktops.
ProMOS Technologies Inc (
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