■ UMC makes gains
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest contract chipmaker by revenue, said yesterday its revenue for last month rose to NT$8.46 billion (US$269.07 million), up 32.9 percent from the same month last year. The company posted revenue of NT$6.37 billion for April last year. UMC supplies semiconductor chips to several of the biggest companies in the global high-tech sector for use in a variety of products, including desktop computers, notebooks, mobile phones and digital cameras. For the four months ended April 30, UMC reported revenue of NT$32.85 billion (US$1.04 billion), 23.2 percent higher than the NT$26.65 billion in the same period last year, according to a statement on its Web site. UMC's revenue for last month was also up compared to the NT$8.455 billion posted for March.
■ Tsann Kuen trading to resume
Shares of Tsann Kuen Group (燦坤實業) will resume normal trading on the local bourse starting tomorrow, after the nation's largest home appliance and consumer electronics retailer chain passed the auditing of its financial report for last year, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. Tsann Kuen's shares were restricted to cash transactions only since last Friday as its certified public accountant (CPA) issued a "qualified opinion" in its annual audit report for last year. Tsann Kuen said it had obtained an "unqualified opinion" for the report on Monday after its CPA in China completed auditing its results. Shares of Tsann Kuen rebounded by the 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$44.6 (US$1.42) yesterday.
■ Pre-tax revenues up
The nation's listed companies grew richer, as the combined first-quarter pre-tax income of the firms publicly traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange increased by NT$63.3 billion (US$2 billion), or 31.57 percent, from a year ago, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday. Companies traded on the GRETAI Securities Market saw their pre-tax income increase by NT$9.4 billion, or 117.50 percent, over the same period, the statistics showed. Five of the nation's 1,206 listed companies failed to report their financial results for last year and the first quarter of this year by the deadline, including power transformer maker Potrans Electrical Corp (鴻運電子) and telecom software system provider Dinttap International Corp (鼎太國際), the commission said. These companies will be fined between NT$240,000 and NT$2.4 million and face a new deadline, the commission said. Trading of these companies' shares will also be suspended until their financial reports are completed, it added.
■ Dopod backs brand
Dopod International Corp (多普達), which sells mobile phones made by High Tech Computer Corp (宏達電), said late on Monday that it has hired former BenQ Corp (明基) executive Scott Huang (黃思齊) as its new marketing communication director in a bid to boost the company's brand business in the Asia-Pacific market. opod obtained Beijing's approval early this year to sell mobile phones in China. efore joining BenQ, Huang served in high-ranking positions at Nokia Ojy's local branch and local digital camera brand Him Technology Inc (華研).
■ NT dollar declines
The NT dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.117 to close at NT$31.497. total of US$1.03 billion changed hands during the day's trading.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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