China factor boosts shares
Taiwanese shares closed 0.78 percent higher yesterday on warming China ties despite profit-taking following a recent rally, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 49.54 at 6,379.94 on turnover of NT$213.44 billion (US$6.45 billion).
“Ample liquidity has been leading the rally, and it is not going to come to an end any time soon as long as the [New] Taiwan dollar keeps appreciating against the US dollar,” said Steven Huang of President Securities (統一證券).
Vanguard chairman named
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that it and the National Development Fund had nominated Chang Ching-chu (章青駒) as chairman of TSMC’s local chip manufacturing affiliate, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進).
The former deputy chairman of local memory chipmaker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) replaces chairman Lin Chuan (林全).
Powerchip looking up
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶), which has posted losses for eight quarters, expects to turn a profit in the last three months of the year on rising chip prices.
“We already have a positive cash flow this month because of rising chip prices,” chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) said in an interview in Taipei yesterday.
NT dollar improves again
The NT dollar yesterday rose 0.2 percent to close at NT$33.133 against the greenback after touching NT$32.833, the strongest level since Dec. 31.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San