Gintech reports record revenues
Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶), Taiwan’s biggest solar cell maker by sales, yesterday reported record high quarterly revenues at NT$7.73 billion (US$251.4 million).
That represented about 11 percent growth from the second quarter, Gintech said in a statement.
In the first three quarters, Gintech accumulated NT$20.27 billion in revenues, doubling from NT$9.97 billion in the same period last year.
The company aims to more than double its shipment to 800 megawatts this year from last year, the statement said.
Gintech will add 930 megawatts in Taiwan this month, two months ahead of schedule, it said.
Cathay Financial to open unit
Cathay Financial Holding Co’s (國泰金控) insurance unit in China has won approval to open a new branch in Guangzhou, the company said in a statement yesterday.
The branch is the fifth in two years, making the company’s insurance arm one of the fastest growing foreign insurance firms in China, Cathay Financial said.
The insurance unit derives its capital from Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) and Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰產險), Cathay Financial said, adding it expects two more branches to open soon.
Bank to raise NT$4 billion
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) plans to raise NT$4 billion from seven-year subordinated debentures to help improve its capital adequacy ratio.
The lender is offering NT$1 billion of 1.45 percent fixed-rate bonds and NT$3 billion of floating-notes priced to yield 15 basis points more than 90-day commercial paper, it said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Game piracy ring busted
The largest-ever cross-strait video game piracy ring was busted recently, the Intellectual Property Rights Police Team (IPRPT) reported yesterday.
IPRPT officers raided a warehouse in Sanchong City, Taipei County, on Sept. 27, arresting four suspects and seizing thousands of pirated copies of video game discs.
The games had a total street value of NT$260 million, police said.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar advanced for the first time in five days after the value of export orders reached a record high. Bonds rose for a second straight day as the government unveiled a plan to buy back debt.
Overseas orders, an indication of shipments in the next one to three months, increased 16.7 percent last month to US$35.98 billion after climbing 23.3 percent the previous month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The NT dollar closed 0.2 percent higher at NT$30.869 against its US counterpart, Taipei Forex Inc said.
TSMC purchases equipment
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has bought about NT$4 billion of equipment and facilities from Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co and two other companies. TSMC purchased NT$1.9 billion of equipment from Dainippon Screen, NT$561 million of gear from Rorze Technology Inc and NT$1.6 billion of facilities and equipment from United Integrated Services Co (漢唐), the firm said in three separate statements to the Taipei Stock Exchange.
Share prices little changed
Share prices closed little changed yesterday amid cautious sentiment before bellwether electronics makers report their third-quarter earnings later this month, dealers said.
The weighted index gained 6.61 points, or 0.08 percent, to 8,131.23, after moving between 8,109.79 and 8,171.49, on turnover of NT$120.48 billion.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained