TAIEX closes up 0.20 percent
The TAIEX closed up 0.20 percent yesterday after profit-taking emerged to erode early gains led by the high-tech sector, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 17.76 points to 8,736.59, after moving between 8,736.54 and 8,764.51, on turnover of NT$126.63 billion (US$4.20 billion).
However, the TAIEX retreated on previous gain after approaching psychological resistance at 8,800 points as investors tended to pocket their recent gains to compromise the upside, dealers said.
The paper and pulp sector scored the highest gains, finishing up 0.7 percent. Construction shares rose 0.6 percent, while plastics and chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles and machinery and electronics stocks all ended up 0.2 percent.
Fubon Life buys bank shares
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) bought 44.4 million shares in Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Co’s (重慶農村商業銀行) initial public offering for HK$235.4 million (US$30.3 million), parent Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said in an exchange statement yesterday. The purchase represents an 0.49 percent stake in the Chinese lender, according to the statement.
Delta seeking out orders
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) is seeking orders for automotive electronics from major automakers around the world including China’s 10 largest car manufacturers, spokesman Jesse Chou (周志宏) said.
Chou declined to name companies in a phone interview with Bloomberg yesterday.
Acer plans to sell building
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 2 PC maker, plans to sell an office building in Taipei’s Neihu district for between NT$2.4 billion and NT$3 billion, the Taipei-based company said in an exchange statement yesterday.
That is part of the PC maker’s broader plan to sell non-core assets, the company said in the statement after the board approved the proposal.
Formosa Plastics rejects report
A media report that Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) executive board members have signed an agreement to step down is untrue, the Taipei-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.
Apple Daily reported that seven top executives have agreed to step down from chairmanship of major units by 2015.
Rexchip approves R&D funds
Rexchip Electronics Corp (瑞晶電子), a computer memory chipmaker 64 percent owned by Japan’s biggest memory chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc, yesterday said the board approved spending of NT$995 million on research and development and new equipment next year.
The board also approved to cut spending on technological migration to 45-nanometer technology to NT$832 million from the previous estimate of NT$11.97 billion.
Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技), the nation’s top computer memory chipmaker, holds a 34 percent stake in Rexchip.
NT falls against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar finished lower yesterday, surrendering gains in the last minutes of trading on speculation the central bank intervened to check appreciation that may hurt exporters.
The currency rose as much as 1.8 percent on optimism overseas investors will add to holdings of the nation’s assets to benefit from economic growth. The Council for Economic Planning and Development forecast GDP will increase 5 percent next year, the Economic Daily reported yesterday.
The New Taiwan dollar fell 0.1 percent to close at NT$30.600 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”