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.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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