TAIEX closes higher
Share prices closed 0.91 percent higher yesterday with investors waiting for vice president-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who is attending an economic forum in China, to outline a new blueprint for Taiwan’s economic development, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 80.18 points at 8,909.58, after moving in the range of 8,840.04 and 8,937.12, on turnover of NT$203.18 billion (US$6.71 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,236 to 982, with 330 stocks unchanged. A total of 29 stocks closed limit-up, while 14 were limit-down.
In the week to yesterday, the weighted index closed up 313.24 points or 3.64 percent at 8,909.58 after a 0.31 percent decline a week earlier. Average daily turnover stood at NT$147.43 billion, compared with NT$136.61 billion a week ago.
FAT shareholders want NT$3.16
Shareholders at Far Eastern Air Transport Co (FAT, 遠東航空 ) yesterday approved a private placement proposal to help improve its financial strength.
At an extraordinary shareholder meeting held yesterday, Far Eastern Air shareholders demanded that its management sell a big tranche of securities to the interested investors at a price of no less than NT$3.16 per share.
Shareholders criticized the management for planning to sell the company too cheap, as the board of directors had earlier proposed selling new shares to potential investors at a price of no less than NT$1 per share.
But management expressed concern that the NT$3.16 offer might not work to attract new investors, as the company reported a net value of only NT$1.597 as of the end of February.
Realtek shares plummet
Realtek Semiconductor Corp’s (瑞昱半導體) share price yesterday fell the most in almost two months after the chip designer lost a patent lawsuit to 3Com Corp, prompting Goldman, Sachs & Co to cut its investment rating on the stock.
Realtek slid by the daily limit of 7 percent, the most since Feb. 12, to close at NT$89.20 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The Hsinchu-based company was ordered to pay 3Com US$45.3 million after a federal jury in San Francisco found on April 9 that Realtek willfully infringed three 3Com patents.
Goldman downgraded the stock to “neutral” from “buy” and lowered their 12-month share-price estimate to NT$90 from NT$118.
THSRC expects new milestone
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) said yesterday that with passenger volume continuing to rise, it is now expecting the 23 millionth passenger, a number equal to the nation’s total population.
THSRC officials said that, as of Thursday, the company had sold 22,873,331 high speed rail tickets, and they think that it will see the 23 millionth passenger in the next few days.
To celebrate yet another milestone in the system, the officials said they were preparing to present the 23 millionth passenger with 23 business-class tickets as well as high speed rail memorabilia.
The passenger volume and revenues reached 2.31 million and NT$1.903 billion last month, both setting records in a single month.
The passenger volume broke the threshold of 1 million on Jan. 22 last year; 10 million on Sept. 18 last year, and 20 million on March 7.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the greenback after the central bank and oil firms bought US dollars, dealers said.
The NT dollar dropped NT$0.011 to close at NT$30.319 on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday. A total of US$1.342 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
ASML Holding NV’s new advanced chip machines have a daunting price tag, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), one of the Dutch company’s biggest clients. “The cost is very high,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, referring to ASML’s latest system known as high-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV). “I like the high-NA EUV’s capability, but I don’t like the sticker price,” Zhang said. ASML’s new chip machine can imprint semiconductors with lines that are just 8 nanometers thick — 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation. The machines cost 350 million euros (US$378 million)
Apple Inc has closed in on an agreement with OpenAI to use the start-up’s technology on the iPhone, part of a broader push to bring artificial intelligence (AI) features to its devices, people familiar with the matter said. The two sides have been finalizing terms for a pact to use ChatGPT features in Apple’s iOS 18, the next iPhone operating system, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Apple also has held talks with Alphabet Inc’s Google about licensing its Gemini chatbot. Those discussions have not led to an agreement, but are ongoing. An OpenAI
‘FULL SUPPORT’: Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said he hopes more companies would settle in the prefecture to create an area similar to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park The newly elected governor of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture said he is ready to ensure wide-ranging support to woo Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build its third Japanese chip factory there. Concerns of groundwater shortages when TSMC’s two plants begin operations in the prefecture’s Kikuyo have spurred discussions about the possibility of tapping unused dam water, Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said in an interview on Saturday. While Kimura said talks about a third plant have yet to occur, Bloomberg had reported TSMC is already considering its third Japanese fab — also in Kumamoto — which would make more advanced chips. “We are
EXPLOSION: A driver who was transporting waste material from the site was hit by a blunt object after an uncontrolled pressure release and thrown 6m from the truck Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday there was no damage to its facilities after an incident at its Arizona factory construction site where a waste disposal truck driver was transported to hospital. Firefighters responded to an explosion on Wednesday afternoon at the TSMC plant in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the local fire department. Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was transporting waste material from the project site and stopped to inspect the tank when he was made aware of a potential problem, a police report seen by Bloomberg News showed. Following an “uncontrolled pressure release,” he was hit by a blunt