Shares close higher
Taiwan share prices closed 0.61 percent higher yesterday, with sentiment bolstered by Wall Street's extended gains last Friday and the prospect of former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) representing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in next year's presidential election, dealers said.
The initial results of the primary has ended infighting among the party's four candidates and Hsieh's victory secured a positive response from the market given his pragmatic approach to cross-strait relations with China.
The weighted index closed up 49.21 points at 8,115.27, the highest closing level since the 8,118.05 posted on August 22, 2000.
The turnover was NT$106.76 billion (US$3.21 billion).
Deutsche Bank appoints director
Deutsche Bank announced yesterday that it has appointed Augustine Chen (陳頌恩) as Director of Institutional Equity Sales in Taiwan, which took immediate effect.
Responsible for selling Taiwan equity products to institutional clients in Asia, Chen will report to Hubert King (金汝椿), Head of Institutional Equity Sales in Taiwan, the statement released yesterday read.
"Our equity platform will be strengthened with the addition of Augustine who arrives with a strong track record and is held in high regard by the industry," King said in the statement. Chen was voted by AsiaMoney as the No. 1
Taiwan Hedge Fund sales in 2004 and was also ranked highly by mutual fund clients in their respective polls.
For the past five years before joining Deutsche Bank, Chen served as a vice president of Equity Sales at CLSA Taipei. Previously, he was with Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) in Taipei.
CPC seeking to import gas
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), the nation's state oil refiner, is seeking to import 20,000m tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas for delivery in June, a company official said.
The Taipei-based refiner wants to take delivery of the cargo, which should contain about 60 percent propane, and 40 percent butane, between June 1 and June 10 at the port of Shenao in northern Taiwan.
Prices of propane have risen 12 percent this year to close at US$600 a tonne on May 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Butane has risen 14 percent over the same period to close at US$610 a tonne, Bloomberg data showed.
Potential sellers are to submit offers by 10am local time on May 8, and these must remain valid until 9pm on the same day, said the official who declined to be identified.
Compal posts increase in sales
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, posted a 48 percent increase in April sales. Parent-company sales at Taipei, Taiwan-based Compal increased to NT$31.7 billion (US$954 million) from NT$21.4 billion a year earlier, the company said today in an e-mailed statement.
Cumulative sales for the year ended April 30 gained 58.7 percent to NT$128.67 billion, the company said. Consolidated revenue, which includes affiliates and excludes Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), was NT$32.3 billion last month, Compal Electronics said.
Shipments of notebook computers rose 77 percent to 1.7 million, with 290,000 display products sold in April, the company said.
New Taiwan dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, increasing NT$0.060 to close at NT$33.220 on turnover of US$971 million.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six