Gas, diesel prices cut
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) announced yesterday that it would cut wholesale gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter as of this morning.
The adjusted retail price for 98-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$28, while 95-octane gasoline will cost NT$26.5, 92-octane gasoline will cost NT$25.8 and top-grade diesel oil will be NT$22.7 per liter, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said it would lower its prices to match CPC Taiwan's, effective 10pm yesterday.
Chi Mei links with Neurok
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), the nation's second-largest maker of flat-panel displays, said it has formed a venture with Neurok Optics, LLC to make game-console screens that display three-dimensional images.
The venture, based in San Diego, California, will begin shipping its products in May, Chi Mei said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The Tainan-based panel maker and Neurok each hold 50 percent of the venture.
The statement didn't say how much the companies were investing in the venture.
BNP Paribas gets green light
BNP Paribas has obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to issue the second batch of foreign currency-denominated bonds in the nation's offshore bond exchange, the Formosa Bond market, the commission said yesterday.
This batch of bond could amount to as high as A$500 million (US$386 million) with an indefinite date for listing, the FSC said.
"There have been several foreign banks interested in issuing the third batch of bonds and so on that came and talked to market regulators," said Sam Chang (張振山), a deputy director at the Securities and Futures Bureau.
Taiwan's first foreign currency-denominated bond, worth US$250 million, was issued by Deutsche Bank and hit the market on Nov. 1 last year.
Between Nov. 1 and last Tuesday, outright trading amounted to US$24.56 million while conditional trading totaled US$553.79 million, the commission said.
HTC's rating raised
High Tech Computer Corp (HTC, 宏達電), the world's largest maker of mobile phones using Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, was upgraded to ``neutral'' by Credit Suisse Group, which cited limited downside for the stock.
HTC shares rose 4.8 percent to close at NT$504 (US$15.24). The stock fell 25 percent this year as of yesterday's close, lagging behind a 0.6 percent decline in the TAIEX.
"We believe the current share price is already pricing in a rather bearish scenario and does not leave significant downside potential," Credit Suisse analysts Felix Rusli and Vivian Jang wrote in a report yesterday.
The analysts, who raised the rating from "underperform," kept the 12-month price target at NT$500, adding that "The chance of a cash distribution to shareholders is higher now than in the past. This is likely to lend an additional support to the share price."
ChipMOS buys unit's shares
ChipMOS Technologies Ltd (南茂科技), a Hsinchu-based packager and tester of microchips, said it will buy all of its ChipMOS Taiwan unit's shares owned by Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密工業) for US$191 million.
ChipMOS will also issue 12.2 million of its own shares to Siliconware Precision for about US$76 million, the firm said in a statement yesterday. The deal gives Siliconware Precision a 14.7 percent stake in ChipMOS, the firm said.
Siliconware Precision is the country's second-largest supplier of semiconductor packaging and testing services.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
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