Taiwan's stocks dropped the most in almost five months, paced by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
"Weakening US demand will be reflected in Taiwan's export figures," said Murphy Huang (
Catcher Technology Co (
The Taiex index slumped 337.73, or 4.1 percent, to close at 7,883.37 in Taipei, its biggest decline since Aug. 16. About 19 stocks dropped for every one that gained. January futures fell 4.6 percent.
Hon Hai, Taiwan's biggest electronics exporter, dropped NT$11.50, or 6.3 percent, to NT$171.50. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's biggest supplier of made-to-order chips, slipped NT$4.20, or 7 percent, to NT$55.80. Taiwan Semiconductor makes about three quarters of its sales to US buyers. Acer Inc, the biggest Taiwanese maker of personal computers, lost NT$4.20, or 7 percent, to NT$56.
US payrolls rose by 18,000 last month, the fewest new jobs since 2003, after economists had forecast a rise of 70,000. The unemployment rate jumped to a two-year high of 5 percent, compared with an estimate of 4.8 percent. The US is Taiwan's biggest export market after China.
Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein, head of the group that dates economic cycles in the US, said on Saturday the odds of a recession are more than 50 percent as a result of the jobs report.
Catcher dropped NT$11, or 6.8 percent, to NT$150.50, its lowest in almost two years. Investors should sell Catcher shares because its revenue of NT$1.2 billion (US$37 million) last month was less than the market's expectations of NT$1.7 billion, Tony Tseng (
Tseng downgraded shares of Catcher, which reported December sales on Friday, from "buy," citing disappointing sales growth. He cut his 2007 earnings estimates for Catcher by 6 percent to NT$6.98 billion, and for 2008 by 32 percent to NT$6.78 billion.
Credit Suisse Group cut its recommendation for the stock to "underperform" from "neutral," and reduced its 12-month price target to NT$160 from NT$262. Credit Suisse analyst Pauline Chen cited falling gross margins, rising labor costs, slower growth in Catcher's main business of magnesium casings and the low December sales as reasons for the downgrade.
Asustek Computer Inc (
The US International Trade Commission said it will investigate claims by International Business Machines Corp that the Taiwan-based computer maker violated three patents for computers, motherboards and graphics cards.
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
Qualcomm Inc is strengthening its partnerships with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in Taiwan as it expands its presence in the artificial intelligence (AI) computer market, CEO Cristiano Amon said in Taipei yesterday ahead of the annual Computex trade show. “Historically we’ve always been a very big customer of TSMC, and we continue to be,” Amon said during a media Q&A session. “For chip manufacturing, we’re among the largest fabless [semiconductor designers],” he said, noting that Qualcomm, a leading provider of mobile and AI-enabled chipsets, ships about 40 billion components every year, with TSMC being
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek has been diversifying its product lines to minimize operational risks as mobile chips remain the company’s biggest revenue source MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest supplier of smartphone chips, yesterday said the tape-out process for its first 2-nanometer chip would take place in September, paving the way for volume production of its most advanced chip, likely to be its next-generation flagship smartphone chip, around the year-end at the earliest. MediaTek has been leveraging advanced process technologies from its foundry partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to build its flagship mobile phone chips, a segment it once relinquished and then recovered four years ago as it released its Dimensity series. In the semiconductor industry, a tape-out refers to the
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