Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's biggest customized-chip maker, rose to their highest in more than six years on optimism an industry supply glut is easing.
TSMC's stock gained 5 percent to NT$69.1 at the close, its highest level since July 19, 2000. Shares of United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-biggest maker of customized semiconductors, and Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (SMIC, 中芯) were also up.
Analysts, such as Jonathan Koh at UOB Kay Han Research and Rick Hsu (
confidence
"The worst is over for the foundry industry, and both of the Taiwan foundries have plans to invest in new fibs, which boosts confidence," said George Wu (吳裕良), who helps manage NT$98.5 billion (US$3 billion) at Investor Taiwan Ltd (景順投信), including TSMC shares.
"We expect PS3 will do fine and we've seen Wii doing very well, while the iPhone is finally out," which will help the sector, he said.
shipments
Sony said on Tuesday that it met its shipment target for its PS3 console in the US last year, and reiterated its goal of shipping 6 million of the game players by March. Nintendo sold 1.1 million of its Wii consoles in the US by the end of last month, researcher NPD Group Inc said yesterday.
"There are some signs that the inventory oversupply is easing," said Jonathan Koh, an analyst at UOB Kay Han Research in Singapore, who has an "overweight" rating on the sector.
"Share prices of chip stocks have been laggards and there are some bargains to be had in the sector," he said.
Shares of UMC rose 3.9 percent to NT$20.1, and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (特許), the third-biggest maker of chips for other companies, climbed 4.9 percent to S$1.29 in Singapore, making it the fourth-largest gainer yesterday among the 48 members of the Straits Times Index.
Providers of chip packaging and testing services also rose, with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光), the world's largest chip packaging and testing company, gaining 2.7 percent to NT$37.75. Stats Chipped Ltd, Southeast Asia's largest packaging and test company, climbed 1.7 percent to S$1.17 in Singapore.
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