TSMC releases finances
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) board yesterday approved financial statements for the first half of this year, with consolidated revenue totaling NT$139.815 billion (US$4.241 billion) in the six months ending June.
Consolidated net income reached NT$44.323 million over the same period, the world's largest contract chipmaker said in a statement released yesterday.
The board approved capital appropriations totaling US$59.8 million for development of 12-inch-wafer level-packaging technology and the capacity to meet market demand, TSMC spokesperson and vice president Lora Ho (何麗梅) said in the statement.
The board also gave the green light to capital appropriations totaling US$22.8 million for upgrading a monthly capacity of 12,600 eight-inch wafers in a 0.18 micron logic process to 11,100 eight-inch wafers capable of high voltage, radio frequency and BiCMOS processes, according to the statement.
No rise for DRAM chips
Global computer memory-chip prices will probably peak next month, earlier than predicted, because of slowing sales in China, according to the operator of Asia's largest semiconductor spot market.
DRAM computer chips "have not experienced an upswing" on the spot market even as contract market prices rose 3 percent to 5 percent this month, Taiwan's Dramexchange.com (集邦科技) said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The average price of the benchmark DRAM chip fell 0.9 percent to close at US$2.15 yesterday.
HSBC to sell insurance
HSBC Holdings Plc's insurance arm has obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission to sell life and investment-linked insurance in Taiwan.
HSBC will sell insurance policies as part of its range of wealth management products, HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Ltd said in a statement.
"As Taiwan becomes more prosperous and as people live longer, the need to provide financial certainty for the future, for ourselves and our families, becomes more and more important," the firm's managing director, John Holden, said in the statement.
HSBC Insurance will commence sales of insurance through HSBC's eight bank branches in Taiwan, HSBC spokeswoman Deborah Chang (章純如) said.
Taiwan Coop's ratings affirmed
Fitch Ratings Corp yesterday affirmed Taiwan Cooperative Bank's (合作金庫銀行) ratings at "BBB+" for its long-term issuer default rating and "AA-(twn)" for its national long-term rating, with a stable outlook.
Fitch said Taiwan Cooperative's ratings primarily reflected its adequate capitalization, asset quality and liquidity profile, according to a statement issued yesterday.
Despite strong support from the government, Taiwan Cooperative has relatively weak core profitability and operational efficiency compared with local peers, Fitch said.
Bonds continue their advance
Bonds advanced for a third day on signs the central bank will halt its interest-rate increases on concern losses in the US mortgage market will slow the global economy.
"The central bank's attitude appears to be softening," said Bono Huang, a bond trader at President Securities Corp (統一證券). "The market looks nice today."
The benchmark 10-year bond price climbed 0.2199, or NT$219.9 per NT$100,000 face amount, to 95.7486, while the 10-year bond yield declined 2.6 basis points to 2.376 percent, according to the GRETAI Securities Market.
The NT dollar inched lower against its US counterpart,closing down NT$0.003 at NT$32.968 on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last