Far Glory to sell Neihu building
The board of Far Glory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽) yesterday approved the cash liquidation of one of its three commercial office buildings in Neihu (內湖) in preparation for a future land acquisition.
“The liquidation is aimed at maximizing our life insurance subsidiary’s return from real estate investments,” Tsai Chung-i (蔡宗易), assistant vice president of Far Glory Group, said over the telephone.
He refused to identify the building, citing confidentiality, as the deal would soon enter the pricing stage.
Tsai said the 12-story building has been generating a more than 4 percent return from office rentals.
Chinatrust revises profit
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) revised upward its nine-month profit because of a change in accounting rules.
Net income for the January to September period was raised to NT$13.2 billion (US$396 million) from the NT$8.53 billion reported on Oct. 9, the company said in a stock exchange filing, citing unaudited figures. That compares with a nine-month profit of NT$12.85 billion a year earlier.
Earnings per share in the nine-month period were also raised to NT$1.36 from NT$0.85, the company said.
Chang Hwa nominates five
The board of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) yesterday nominated five candidates for independent directors, including two government-nominated representatives — Liang Fa-chin (梁發進), former deputy governor of the central bank, and Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源), president of Polaris Research Institute (寶華綜合經濟研究院).
They will compete for the bank’s two independent director seats during its board reshuffle on Nov. 21, the bank’s statement said.
AU Optronics names new CEO
The board of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) has named its chief operating officer and president Chen Lai-juh (陳來助) to succeed Chen Hsuan-bin (陳炫彬) as chief executive officer on Jan. 1, the company said in a statement yesterday. Chen will continue as president, the statement said.
Chen Hsuan-bin will focus on his duties as vice chairman and will continue to be responsible for the firm’s future growth strategy, the statement said.
Coop Bank owns Iceland debt
The Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday that it had NT$357 million (US$10.6 million) in debentures issued by Iceland’s three largest banks, without naming the banks.
On Tuesday, the Financial Supervisory Commission said the nation’s financial institutions had total exposure of NT$20.26 billion in investments linked to the three banks — Kaupthing Bank, Glitnir Bank and Landsbanki Islands Bank — that were recently nationalized by the Icelandic government.
FSC relaxes collateral rules
To maintain order and stability in the local stock market, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced last night that, beginning this Friday, it would temporarily relax collateral requirements on margin loans to ease selling pressure from margin calls.
The commission said in a statement that effective this Friday and running through Dec. 31, investors could use any kind of liquid instruments that could be valued objectively to act as collateral for margin loans.
Currently, investors only use cash, stocks or government bonds as collateral for trading shares on margin loans.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”