Stocks dropped for the second day in three yesterday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) declined on concern the company's rally this year was excessive compared with gains in the benchmark index.
The TAIEX lost 37.01, or 0.6 percent, to 5,887.23. About twice as many stocks fell as rose. The Taiwan Futures Index shed 1.1 percent to 5,905.
Turnover was NT$56.92 billion (US$1.67 billion). Decliners outnumbered risers 491 to 258, while 181 issues ended the session unchanged.
TSMC fell NT$2, or 3.2 percent, to NT$61. The world's biggest supplier of made-to-order semiconductors has climbed 55 percent this year, compared with a 32 percent gain in the benchmark index.
Rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
"The electronics sector is entering the traditional slow season in the first quarter. The overnight slump in the US semiconductor stocks battered their local counterparts," said Michael Hsu, assistant vice president at Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (
"The uncertainty surrounding merger prospects in the financial sector also kept investors at bay," he added.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (中華映管), the nation's third-largest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers and televisions, gained NT$0.10, or 0.7 percent, to NT$14.95. The company forecasts net income will jump by more than nine times next year from this year. The company expects to earn net income of NT$8.23 billion next year, and has forecast NT$874 million in profit 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
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