Shares of Nanya Technology Corp (
Analysts said memory-chip shares would continue the trend on solid February sales and improved profitability thanks to higher chip prices.
"The rise of the memory-chip sector is playing a role in the TAIEX's surge, as is the influx of foreign capital," said Kevin Chung (
Winbond led the rise, surging nearly 7 percent, the intraday limit, to NT$19.4. Nanya, the nation's biggest memory chipmaker, and smaller rival ProMOS Technologies Inc (
"The DRAM sector has been one of the most vigorously traded sectors since the beginning of the year, along with flat-panel shares," Chung said.
Improved profitability and lower stock prices, below NT$50, are two important reasons for investors to snatch up those shares to make profits from the bullish stock market, he said.
Boosted by the strong DRAM shares, the TAIEX yesterday breached the 7,000-point resistance level to end at 7,034, on turnover of NT$226.55 billion.
Frank Huang (黃崇仁), chairman of Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's No.2 memory chipmaker, said in late January that he expected this year's revenue to double from last year thanks to sharp growth in chip output and cost savings, after its advanced 12-inch fabs started operating in the second half of last year.
Powerchip's revenues for last year amounted to NT$22.9 billion, up from NT$12.7 billion in 2002. The company's sales last monthh were a record high NT$3.31 billion, it reported earlier this week.
ProMOS, which reported a record NT$3.2 billion in sales last month, expects the figure to continue to expand this month.
"In March, ProMOS will hit a new record, helped by rising chip prices and more working days," said ProMOS spokesman Albert Lin (
Spot prices are expected to go up slightly for the first half of this month as demand usually picks up in March after a slow January and February.
The benchmark DDR 256Mbit has risen 1.13 percent to US$4.47 in the past week, according to online chip clearinghouse DRAMeXchange.
Looking forward, DRAMeXchange said DRAM makers intend to hike contract prices between 3 percent and 5 percent for the first half of this month, but the attempt could be stymied by personal computer original equipment manufacturers.
Setting aside the DRAM sub-index, Jones Wang (王源錦), a deputy manager at ABN-AMRO Asset Management Taiwan, said, "Plastics shares overtook steel and transportation shares to drive up the TAIEX."
Wang expected stock prices to continue rising next week ahead of the presidential election.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is