TAIEX gains on US data
Taiwan share prices closed 0.47 percent higher yesterday as investors took their lead from Wall Street's stronger close on positive housing data and expectations the federal reserve will cut US interest rates later in the day, dealers said.
The index turned lower in midmorning trade due to pressure on bellwether technology stocks and domestic political uncertainty ahead of next month's parliamentary elections, they said.
The weighted index closed up 40.30 points at 8,638.33, off a high of 8,659.36 and a low of 8,569.54, on turnover of NT$86.23 billion (US$2.67 billion).
Mao Jen-chieh (毛仁傑), president of Pro Standard Capital Management Co Ltd, said advances in New York bolstered sentiment toward the local bourse.
In particular, "some old-economy stocks scored gains thanks to prospects of returns from their China operations." But "local suppliers of technology products were undermined by uncertainties about the consumption power of the major US end-market and the negative effect on demand for technology devices," he said.
Samsung to launch phones
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday said it planned to launch six new mobile phones in Taiwan by the year-end, aiming to secure its local market share at 15 percent. In total, the South Korean company would launch about 22 models this year.
The six new phones including one codenamed G608 that will be equipped with a high definition 5-megapixel camera, compared to the 2-megapixel cameras fitted with most phones now.
The phone is set to hit the local stores next week. Samsung also planned to launch the much-awaited handset it worked with fashion designer Giorgio Armarni in the first quarter in Taiwan.
Toshiba delays OEL TVs
Toshiba Corp postponed plans to sell televisions using brighter and slimmer organic electroluminescent panels because of production and demand concerns.
The Tokyo-based company had planned to start selling 76cm OEL televisions in fiscal 2009, Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said. He declined say when sales might begin.
"We are delaying the start of sales because of various issues related to mass production technology and market trends," he said, without further explanation. Toshiba, Sony Corp and Canon Inc are looking to OEL televisions as consumer preference shifts to thinner sets.
Higher production costs and difficulties associated with making large- size OEL screens will likely crimp growth in the market, according to industry researcher ISuppli Corp.
Hyundai ready for boost in US
Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest automaker, plans to make full use of its US factory next year as it expects higher demand for the redesigned Sonata midsize sedan.
Hyundai Motor plans to produce 300,000 Sonata sedans and Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama next year, company spokesman Jake Jang said yesterday.
Hyundai Motor produced 237,000 units at the factory in the first 11 months of this year and expects to build about 250,000 by year-end, it said.
Hyundai idled its US factory for the first time since it opened in 2005, for a total of 10 days from October through this month. The Seoul-based automaker is betting on the introduction of a new Sonata model to boost sales next year.
"As we'll begin making the revamped Sonata from January in Alabama, we'll be able to make full use of the assembly lines," Jang said. "There won't be further idling of the factory next year.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by