■ Shares close up
Shares closed 0.22 percent higher as select technology firms attracted laggard interest, offsetting profit-taking in so-called old economy stocks, dealers said.
The TAIEX was up 17.21 points at 7,934.51, on total turnover of NT$157.928 billion (US$4.85 billion).
Decliners outnumbered gainers 735 to 502 with 130 stocks unchanged.
■ Far EasTone fined for ads
The Fair Trade Commission fined Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) NT$1.8 million (US$55,300) yesterday for fraudulent advertising on rates in two different cases, a press statement from the commission said.
In advertising its "333 program" between May and July, the nation's second-largest mobile service provider by revenue advertised that consumers could enjoy the market's lowest tariff of NT$3 per minute.
However, the company's preferential program only applied to users who talked on the phone for over 800 minutes a month, which Far EasTone failed to disclose in its advertisements, the commission said. The company was fined NT$1 million and asked to stop illegal advertising.
A similar transgression occurred in its advertising of the 165 program, for which the commission ordered a fine of NT$800,000.
■ Basel II could hit banks hard
The implementation of Basel II, a set of revamped and stricter international requirements for banks' capital adequacy that took effect on Monday in Taiwan, will dent the average capital adequacy ratio of local banks by 0.35 percent to 11.42 percent, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
Under the new regulations, the non-amortized loss incurred from the sale of bad loan assets or funds raised from affiliates within the same group will now be excluded from the calculation of capital adequacy, the commission said.
A few banks low on capital may potentially be affected by the new requirement, with their capital adequacy ratio falling below the regulatory 8 percent. This includes Taichung Commercial Bank (台中商銀) and Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行).
■ Luxpro seeks compensation
Luxpro Corp (茂嘉科技), a maker of MP3 players, said it is seeking compensation of US$100 million from Apple Computer Inc after winning an infringement lawsuit. Last month, the Shilin District Court ruled in favor of Luxpro in a lawsuit appeal.
The lawsuit began in July, 2005, when Apple said that the rectangular case and round control buttons of three of Luxpro's players resembled a popular iPod model, infringing on Apple's copyrights.
Apple won its lawsuit, but the verdict was later turned to favor Luxpro in the later appeal.
As the earlier injunction had barred Luxpro from selling and advertising its MP3 players, it decided to seek compensation to make up for its losses, the company said in a statement released on Wednesday.
■ China approves wafer plant
China has approved a US$900 million investment by Taiwan's ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德) last week to build the plant for eight-inch wafers in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, a state press report said yesterday.
The China Business News said the project was expected to be finished in the first half of this year.
■ New Taiwan dollar down
The New Taiwan dollar continued losing ground against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.143 to close at NT$32.550 on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Turnover was US$1.123 billion.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San