Taiwan share prices fell for the fifth time in six days yesterday amid continuing worries over the fallout from the US subprime mortgage sector, with Wall Street's weaker finish contributing to the caution, dealers said.
"Subprime fallout remains an overhanging issue for investors, and exporters are vulnerable to falling US demand," said Sam Hsieh (
The weighted index closed down 15.80 points, or 0.17 percent, at 9,292.80, off a low of 9,278.01 and a high of 9,368.46. Turnover was NT$151.43 billion (US$4.67 billion).
However, investors stopped short of taking a more aggressive stance over uncertainty about whether the government will act on a proposal by Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Meanwhile, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
Hon Hai, Taiwan's biggest electronics company, fell NT$5, or 2.1 percent, to NT$230.
Mediatek Inc (聯發科), the world's largest supplier of chips for DVD players, dropped NT$30, or 5.4 percent, to NT$522.
Largan Precision Co (
Largan Precision, a maker of optical lenses and shutters for mobile phones, jumped NT$26.50, or 6.9 percent, to NT$409.50, the biggest gain since Oct. 2.
Wintek Corp (
Meanwhile, Google, owner of the world's most popular Internet search engine, said yesterday it will work with companies including Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile USA Inc on a mobile-phone operating system, code-named "Android."
High Tech Computer Corp (
High Tech, the world's biggest maker by volume of handsets based on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, fell NT$8, or 1.3 percent, to NT$622 after rising as much as 1.6 percent.
High Tech was sued by Boothwyn, Pennsylvania-based Replevix on claims it infringed a patent for mobile computer programs. Replevix filed its complaint in federal court in Philadelphia.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day