■SHIPPING
China opens ports to Taiwan
China approved five additional ports for direct shipping with Taiwan, bringing the total to 68, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing China’s transportation ministry. The addition of ports Tongling, Shidao, Laizhou, Taizhou Damaiyu and Ningbo-Zhoushan were announced yesterday at a meeting on cross-strait direct shipping in the southern city of Xiamen, Xinhua said. China agreed to waive business taxes and corporate income taxes for Taiwanese shippers on profit earned in China from direct shipping, Xinhua said. The exemption is effective from Dec. 15 of last year, it said.
■STOCKS
China’s IPO backlog mounts
China, whose stock market is the world’s third-best performer this year, has 300 to 400 companies waiting to hold initial public offerings, Citic Securities Co (中信證券) chairman Wang Dongming (王東明) said. That backlog will take two years to clear, Wang, who heads China’s biggest brokerage by market value, said yesterday at a forum in Shanghai. China hasn’t had an IPO since September. The nation’s securities regulator plans to set up a new system for pricing initial public offerings and may “soon” end a moratorium on IPOs, China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Fan Fuchun (范富春) said on March 6. Listings were halted “because the market needed a rest,” Fan said. “The decision on who to list, how to price the listing should be given to the investment bank, company and investors,” Wang said.
■STOCKS
Shanghai, Taipei in talks
The Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Taiwan Stock Exchange are in “detailed discussions” on cooperation, Shanghai bourse executive vice president James Liu (劉嘯東) said on Friday at a forum in the Chinese city. Implementation of the initiatives under discussion will depend on government approval, Liu said, without giving details. Taipei will host a conference on exchange-traded funds next week, Taiwan Stock Exchange Chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) said at the forum.
■REAL ESTATE
Report predicts HK rebound
Hong Kong home prices may rebound to levels seen in early September, before the global financial system imploded, according to a report yesterday by Centaline Property Agency Ltd (中原地產). “With sales transactions stabilizing at a normal level and investors preferring to buy fixed assets, we may see home prices back to those levels by year-end,” Wong Leung-sing (黃良昇), an associate director at Centaline, said in a phone interview. Four of the biggest mass housing estates Centaline tracks have already risen past prices posted in early September, the agency said.
■FINANCE
ADB criticizes Philippines
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday the Philippines has failed to follow a commitment to reduce the number of state-run corporations that have been bleeding government coffers dry. It said Manila sought ADB technical assistance in 2006 to improve the efficiency of government-owned or government-controlled corporations that perform socially oriented services such as maintaining food supply stability or provide basic services in areas including transport, housing and utilities. State enterprises have been “problematic” with “weak institutional and regulatory frameworks” and “most” have been bleeding red ink, the Manila-based ADB said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
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