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.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure