Shares of the nation’s biggest automaker, Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), rallied nearly 7-percent — the daily limit — yesterday after the company received the go-ahead to make its Luxgen brand cars in China.
Shares of Yulon closed up 6.92 percent to NT$39.4 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Dongfeng Yulon (東風裕隆), a joint venture between Yulon and China’s No. 4 automaker Dongfeng Automobile Co (東風汽車), has received official approval from the Chinese authority to manufacture cars in the world’s biggest automotive market, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Yulon, which holds 50 percent of Dongfeng Yulon, planned to invest 755 million yuan (US$111.5 million) in the venture, which will have 1.55 billion yuan in initial capital.
This marks Yulon’s second car making venture in China.
Dongfeng Yulon will be located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, the statement said.
Yulon’s shares have risen 4.5 percent since early this year and have jumped 20 percent in the past 12 months, outpacing other auto shares on the TAIEX, which are up 12 percent in the past year.
“This project will enhance the research and development capability of Taiwan’s auto industry and help push exports of Taiwan’s auto component makers,” the statement said.
The venture is set to produce 120,000 vehicles per year in the initial stage, with models ranging from sports utility vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles and sedans, the statement said, adding total investment would eventually hit 3.4 billion yuan.
Taiwan’s auto production currently stands at 280,000 units a year.
Dongfeng Yulon’s first-phase production facilities are expected to be ready by the end of next year, with both parties to jointly handle recruitment, equipment purchase, safety recognition and the sales network.
Yulon, which mainly produces cars for Nissan in Taiwan through a licensing agreement with its Japanese partner, has a previous joint venture in China called South East Motor (Fujian) (東南汽車).
While the statement did not specify the models to be produced by Dongfeng Yulon, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said the venture would mainly manufacture Luxgen vehicles — Yulon’s first attempt at building its own brand.
The first Luxgen, a 2.2-liter minivan for family use, was unveiled in Taiwan in September last year. Since then Yulon has received orders from more than 10,000 local motorists, Luxgen said.
The Luxgen project has cost Yulon about NT$15 billion (US$472 million) since it started four years ago.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
RSS