Shares close higher
Taiwanese shares closed 1.67 percent higher yesterday on bargain hunting, with the bellwether electronic sector in focus, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 116.37 points at 7,080.97 off a low of 6,929.87 and a high of 7,106.64 on turnover of NT$94.53 billion (US$3 billion).
Gainers outnumbered losers by 1,624 to 441 with 417 stocks unchanged.
AUO to build four plants
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the world’s third-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, plans to invest NT$400 billion (US$12.7 billion) to build four LCD plants in Taiwan in the next decade to meet demand for flat-screen televisions.
The panel maker plans to hire 10,000 workers for the factories, which will be located in Taichung, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said in an e-mailed statement yesterday after a meeting with AUO chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀).
AUO will begin construction of a 10th-generation factory in the second half of next year, with production scheduled to start in 2011 or 2012, the statement said.
Lite-On earnings rise 112%
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday announced second-quarter net earnings of NT$1.35 billion (US$42.9 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.63, an increase of 112 percent from the previous quarter, a company statement showed.
The company attributed the growth to strong growth in high-end products, including power supply, imaging products and optoelectronic components, it said.
Gross and operation margins reached 10 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in the second quarter, presenting steady improvements from the first quarter, it added.
In the first half of the year, Lite-On’s revenue reached NT$78.5 billion, while net profit was NT$1.99 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.93.
Corps promotes energy thrift
A business conglomerate energy-saving corps was established yesterday under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Energy.
The purpose of the group is to help leading manufacturing companies, which are also major energy consumers, save energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions by training staff members to become “seeded trainers” responsible for energy conservation, Bureau of Energy Director Yeh Hui-ching (葉惠青) said.
At an inaugural ceremony, representatives of 12 conglomerates promised to cut energy use by 6 percent in three years, a volume equivalent to 781,000 kiloliters, or 4.9 million barrels, of oil.
“The amount of energy saved can also be expressed as NT$16.6 billion [US$535 million] or a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2.14 million tonnes, which would require the equivalent of 5,502 Ta-an forest parks to absorb,” Yeh said.
China Steel boosts income
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, said yesterday that its first-half net income climbed by 2.7 percent to NT$26.9 billion.
The Kaohsiung-based firm said in a stock exchange filing that its board approved a plan to sell as much as NT$10 billion in bonds for use as working capital.
China Steel raised prices by an average 19 percent for domestic customers in the second quarter. The company is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter prices for domestic customers today.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground slightly against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.008 to close at NT$31.481. Turnover was US$1.164 billion.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last