■ TAIEX sheds 58.49 points
Shares fell yesterday amid weakness of electronics and steel shares. The TAIEX fell 58.49 points, or 0.9 percent, to end at a session low of 6,458.03. Profit-taking contributed to much of the weakness in electronics stocks, which fell 1.3 percent on aggregate. High Tech Computer (宏達電), which makes high-end mobile phones, ended 4.2 percent lower at NT$862, after rising 5 percent in the past week. Part of the reason for the decline was disappointment over the company's dividend payout, traders said. Alan Tseng (曾炎裕), vice president at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券), said the profit-taking doesn't necessarily reflect shifting views on technology shares. He said the resilience of index heavyweights such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which ended up 0.5 percent at NT$60.50, indicated foreign institutional investors may still be bullish on the technology sector.
■ China Steel profit plummets
China Steel Corp (中鋼) yesterday had the smallest quarterly profit in three-and-a-half years after it cut prices because of increased output in China. Net income declined 67 percent to NT$4.9 billion (US$151 million) for the fourth quarter from NT$14.7 billion a year earlier. The figures were derived by subtracting nine-month figures from full-year earnings announced by the company yesterday. Sales dropped 12 percent to NT$41.2 billion. For the whole of last year, the company reported a net profit of NT$50.65 billion, down from NT$51.62 billion in the previous year. Sales rose from NT$168.27 billion to NT$186.32 billion. Earnings per share fell from NT$5.26 to NT$4.83.
■ BenQ vows to limit losses
BenQ Corp (明基) chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said that the company would reduce losses in the first quarter by selling more profitable handsets, six months after taking over Siemens AG's money-losing cellphone unit. It posted a worse-than-expected NT$6 billion (US$185 million) fourth-quarter loss on reorganization costs. Losses have since narrowed as new cellphones have received "very good acceptance," Lee said on Monday. Lee is focusing on mobile phones that can download music and games before competing in the mass market with Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. BenQ's average handset selling price will rise to more than 90 euros (US$110) this year, from about 70 euros at the end of last year, he said.
■ Innovation aid approved
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has approved subsidies totaling NT$59 million (US$1.8 million) to 25 technological development projects proposed by local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as an effort to upgrade industrial expertise, officials said yesterday. The enterprises will invest over NT$100 million of their own funds in the subsidized projects, the officials said. Since the ministry began a program in February 1999 aimed at encouraging SMEs to develop innovative technologies, the ministry has given the green light to private-sector applications for government subsidies on 1,697 technological development projects as of the end of last month. The government subsidies total NT$3.66 billion, with the incentive measure prompting concerned SMEs to invest an additional NT$7.75 billion on subsidized projects.
■ NT dollar inches down
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against its US counterpart on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday, declining NT$0.08 to close at NT$32.501. Turnover was US$987 million.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”