TAIEX rises on rebound
The TAIEX closed up 0.20 percent yesterday on a technical rebound from the previous session, but the gains were compromised by selling in large-cap electronics stocks amid renewed concerns over the earnings outlook, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 16.44 points to 8,106.66, after moving between 8,067.87 and 8,143.19, on turnover of NT$104.80 billion (US$3.38 billion).
A total of 1,680 stocks closed up and 1,975 were down, with 400 remaining unchanged.
TSMC to boost R&D 25 percent
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) will raise its spending on research and development (R&D) by 25 percent next year, company chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) said yesterday in Taipei. Spending will rise to US$1 billion next year, from US$800 million this year, he said. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker in terms of revenue.
Chimei facing US investigation
Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s largest LCD panel maker, will be investigated by a US International Trade Commission to determine if it violates patents owned by Technicolor’s Thomson Licensing SA. The commission said on Tuesday that it would look into the patent-infringement claims made in August by Thomson. A violation could result in a ban on imports of Chimei’s LCD panels, including ones with controllers made by Hsinchu-based chip designer MStar Semiconductor Inc (晨星半導體).
Shipping rates could drop
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) said seasonal factors are likely to drive shipping rates for the industry worldwide in the current quarter slightly lower.
“Deliveries to meet demand for Christmas holidays had been made in the second and third quarter, and the industry is likely to experience a traditionally slower -season in the fourth quarter,” Yang Ming president Robert Ho (何樹生) said yesterday.
Science parks’ trade rises
The Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) on Tuesday reported an increase of more than 50 percent in the value of its foreign trade in the third quarter of this year, as the economy continues to show signs of recovery.
The park recorded a combined trade value of more than NT$101.2 billion, a 52.7 percent increase from the same period last year, its administration said.
The park’s third-quarter export value reached more than NT$65.7 billion, while the value of its imports was NT$35.5 billion.
The optronics industry outperformed all the other industries in both exports and imports, followed by the semiconductor and precision machinery industries, the parks said.
New BOFT officials start Monday
Bill Cho (卓士昭) will start his new job as director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) on Monday, the bureau said yesterday. Cho, who has been serving as the nation’s representative to Kuwait, will return to Taipei on Sunday.
Chen Ming-shy (陳銘師), head of the economic and trade division of the representative office in Spain, will take over as the bureau’s deputy director-general on Monday as well.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar rose the most in a week after US Federal Reserve minutes showed policy makers were prepared to ease monetary policy “before long,” boosting appetite for riskier assets in Asia.
The NT dollar closed 0.4 percent higher at NT$30.96 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It was trading 0.8 percent stronger at NT$30.82 one minute before the central bank intervened to curb appreciation, traders said.
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