Shares ended sharply higher yesterday in the strongest session so far this year, boosted by gains in technology shares, as well as transportation and tourism stocks.
The TAIEX finished 114.3 points higher, or 1.9 percent, at 5,994.23 in dealings valued at NT$99.7 billion (US$3.1 billion). Advancers outnumbered decliners 741 to 104, while 135 issues ended the day unchanged.
Overseas fund managers last week bought a net US$126 million of Taiwan's shares, according to stock-exchange figures, helping the local currency strengthen 0.4 percent.
"The stock index jumped, so people are expecting equity purchases by overseas investors were more than usual, helping the Taiwan dollar," said Joseph Lee, a foreign-exchange trader in Taipei at Cathay United Bank (
The NT dollar rose NT$0.012 to close at NT$31.790 against its US counterpart in Taipei. The currency climbed as high as NT$31.768, its strongest since Jan. 3.
On the local bourse, yesterday's rise was led by technology shares, which were 2.4 percent higher overall.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電), the world's largest made-to-order chip supplier, finished up 4 percent to NT$52, following its settlement of a patent suit with its Chinese rival, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路).
Flat panel display makers also made large gains on renewed optimism for demand this year. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) ended up 6.7 percent to NT$45.9 and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) ended up 5.9 percent at NT$48.3. Panel shares were the most actively traded stocks on the bourse yesterday.
Tourism and transportation shares were among the strongest performing sectors, rising after Saturday's first direct non-stop charter flights between Taiwan and China in over half a century.
China Airlines (
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to