■ TSMC sales hit NT$19.97 billion
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday its March revenue rose 44 percent from a year earlier, a sign the semiconductor industry remains on the recovery track. The chipmaker posted revenue of NT$19.97 billion (US$607 million) last month, up from NT$13.85 billion (US$421 million) in March last year, the company said. March revenue was up 8.6 percent from February, on stronger wafer shipments and a better product mix, which led to higher average selling prices, said Lora Ho (何麗梅), TSMC vice president and chief financial officer. Revenue for the first quarter was NT$57.51 billion, up 46 percent from the same period last year, the company said.
■ Tax revenues up 33.8 percent
The nation's total tax revenues last month amounted to NT$117.3 billion, an increase of 33.8 percent over the same month last year, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. March revenue from stock-transaction taxes, rose NT$4.2 billion, or 112.4 percent to NT$13.3 billion from a year earlier. Revenues from land taxes grew NT$4.2 billion, or 112.4 percent, to NT$8 billion, the ministry said. Income tax revenues totaled NT$15.9 billion, an increase of NT$200 million. The ministry received NT$285.9 billion in revenues in the first three months of the year, up 23.3 percent from the same period last year, and accounting for 21.4 percent of the target set for the year. During this period, stock-transaction tax revenues increased NT$16.6 billion, business tax revenues grew NT$14.7 billion, land tax revenues rose NT$12.9 billion and income tax increased NT$15.8 billion over a year ago.
■ DTZ to auction government land
The Ilan County Government has entrusted DTZ Debenham Tie Leung International Property Advisers (戴德梁行) to organize an auction on May 1 to sell over 40 parcels of government-owned land. According to the company, this will be the first time the local government has held such a public auction to sell land. The to-be-auctioned residential land, measuring between 50 and 80 pings, will be priced between NT$3 million and NT$50 million, according to Allen Hsu (徐鳳麟), a manager at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. Hsu added that the to-be-auctioned land, located near the county government and surrounded by parks, which he dubbed "Ilan's Hsinyi district," will be a worthwhile investment since the Taipei-Ilan highway will be completed next year.
■ Acer sees record March sales
Acer Inc reported record high consolidated sales of NT$19.4 billion last month, with a leap of 65.5 percent year-on-year, or an increase of 21.9 percent compared to the previous month. Acer's consolidated revenue in the first quarter rose 62.6 percent year-on-year to NT$49.2 billion, accounting for 24.4 percent of the NT$202 billion revenues it targeted for the year, the company said in a statement. Acer became the sixth largest vendor of desktop and notebook computers last year. Its sale of LCD monitors in the Western European market jumped to number one last year as well. The company expects to become one of the top five personal computer brands globally with continuing high growth in Europe and business expansion in the US and China markets, the statement said.
■ NT dollar up again
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.014 to close at NT$32.910 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$591 million.
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