TAIEX rises in thin trading
Share prices closed up 0.10 percent on thin trading yesterday, just below 7,600 points, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 7.74 points to 7,589.89 after moving between 7,567.96 and 7,607.63 on turnover of NT$74.96 billion (US$2.34 billion). A total of 1,505 stocks closed up and 1,340 down, with 427 unchanged.
Array Inc debuts on OTC market
Shares of the first foreign company to list on Taiwan’s over-the-counter (OTC) market closed sharply higher on its debut yesterday amid optimism over a “booming” Internet security business, dealers said.
US-based Array Inc closed up 15.6 percent at NT$55.50 (US$1.73 billion), with 2.57 million shares changing hands.
Founded in 2008, Array has established footholds in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific region. It also has two wholly owned subsidiaries in China.
Array is aiming to expand its business in emerging markets, such as Brazil and Russia, the company said in a statement.
Directors will work for free
Two independent directors of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) who have been called “government fat cats” said yesterday they would not only be willing to work for half their salaries, but would do their jobs for free.
Victor Liu (劉維琪) and George Chen (陳世圯), two of three independent directors at the corporation, have been criticized by local media for earning pay from more than one public agency at the same time.
Liu said he would be willing to work for half his normal salary and would not mind working as an unpaid volunteer at THSRC.
Chen also said he is willing to work with THSRC as a volunteer, but added that he resents being called a “fat cat.”
“’Its humiliating to characterize a board director who has work experience and expertise as a fat cat” he said.
Macronix in 3D breakthrough
Local memory chipmaker Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏) yesterday said it has developed a new 3D technology that allows it to make NAND flash memory chips for consumer electronics at a lower cost than existing technologies.
Macronix said it has successfully made a prototype using its patented BE-SONOS (barrier engineering) charge-trapping technology and 3D decoding architecture, and mass production could start as soon as 2014.
Polaris, China Galaxy team up
Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券) and China Galaxy Securities Co (中國銀河證券) signed a memorandum of understanding to team up in areas including developing index-based products and asset management, the Taipei-based Polaris said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Beijing-based Galaxy Securities has 214 outlets in China, and Polaris Securities is Taiwan’s largest online brokerage.
Nan Kang Rubber repurchases
Nan Kang Rubber Tire Co (南港輪胎) has repurchased NT$314.9 million in shares for an average price of NT$40.45 per share, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Meanwhile, Medigen Biotechnology Corp (基亞生技) plans to sell 15 million new shares at a tentative price of NT$22 apiece, according to another stock exchange statement.
NT dollar closes down
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.027 to close at a day low of NT$32.216. Turnover totaled US$536 million during the trading session.
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OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to