Record Wall Street helps shares
Shares closed 1.19 percent higher yesterday, taking their lead in active trade from another record finish on Wall Street after upbeat US corporate earnings reports, dealers said.
Technology bellwether stocks largely regained momentum, but non-tech industrials and financials were a mixed bag due to select profit-taking after their recent strong performance, they said.
The TAIEX rose 112.59 points to 9,585.90, the high for the day, on turnover of NT$221.91 billion (US$6.79 billion). The index hit an intraday low of 9,487.95.
Risers led decliners 919 to 564, with 133 stocks unchanged.
Meanwhile, the New Taiwan dollar posted its strongest gain in almost two weeks as foreign investors increased purchases of stocks.
The NT dollar advanced by NT$0.035 to close at NT$32.790 on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$1.260 billion, up from US$523 million the previous day.
Bionet misled customers
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday fined Bionet Corp (訊聯生物科技) NT$400,000 (US$12,200) for fraudulent advertising in line with the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
Bionet, known for its cord blood preservation business, has claimed on TV commercials and its Web site that the firm has the biggest market share and the largest customer base.
But the commission found that Bionet did not post the best performances compared with six other competitors in 2004 and 2005, nor did it secure the most customers during these two years.
Acer files suit against HP
Acer Inc said yesterday it filed a counterclaim of patent infringement against Hewlett-Packard Development Co (HP) before the Eastern District of Texas Court in the US.
The latest counterclaim is part of Acer's response to HP's patent infringement suit against the company filed at the same court earlier this year, Acer said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Acer said HP infringed on its patents on dual-frequency antenna and DVD-ROM head technologies.
In late March, HP filed a lawsuit against Acer for violating five patents.
HP filed another suit against Acer in April at the International Trade Commission over infringement of four of the same patents.
At the time, Acer sued three of its contract manufacturing partners -- Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Wistron Corp (緯創) -- in connection with the lawsuit.
Chinese interest rates to rise
China's central bank announced yesterday it would raise interest rates for the third time this year, a day after government data showed the economy expanded by a blistering 11.9 percent in the second quarter and 11.5 percent for the first six months of the year.
The benchmark lending and deposit rates will each rise by 0.27 percentage points from today, the People's Bank of China said.
The main lending rate is now 6.84 percent, while the deposit rate is 3.33 percent.
Chang Hwa calls for advice
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) will select an investment bank by tender to advise on a merger with Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), which would create the nation's second-largest financial services firm by assets.
Bids should be submitted this month, Chang Hwa executive vice president James Shih (施建安) said yesterday.
Taishin Financial, which owns 22.5 percent of Chang Hwa, plans to acquire the remaining 77.5 percent through a share swap and thus turn Chang Hwa into a wholly owned unit this year. The government owns 15.6 percent of the firm.
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