TAIEX climbs 0.47 percent
The TAIEX closed up 0.47 percent yesterday to end the day above 8,900 points after the high-tech sector staged a rebound from recent losses resulting from the impact of the rising New Taiwan dollar, dealers said.
The TAIEX index rose 41.56 points to 8,907.91, after moving between 8,871.01 and 8,920.79, on turnover of NT$128.15 billion (US$4.38 billion).
The market opened up 0.19 percent after Wall Street hit a fresh two-year high overnight and interest in the bellwether electronics sector emerged, in particular in late trade, as investors picked up bargains by taking advantage of high-tech stocks’ low valuations, the dealers said.
A total of 2,049 stocks closed up, 2,074 finished down and 437 remained unchanged.
Taishin signs MOU with bank
Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation with China’s Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank (成都農商銀行), Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), parent of the Taipei-based lender, said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Bank estimates NT$9bn profit
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) estimated this year’s pretax profit to be about NT$9 billion (US$309 million), the Taipei-based lender said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday, without giving a comparative figure.
Chunghwa Telecom signs MOU
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) signed an MOU with Inventec Co (英業達) to co-develop and promote cloud-computing services, the Taipei-based company said in an exchange statement yesterday.
Chunghwa Picture eyes China
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) will set up a touch-panel manufacturing base in Fuzhou, China, with full production to commence by May next year, the Taoyuan-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Formosa running near capacity
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), Taiwan’s only publicly traded oil refiner, said it is using 98 percent to 99 percent of capacity at its three ethylene plants.
“We’re running at almost full capacity,” Lin Keh-yen (林克彥), a company spokesman, said by telephone yesterday.
The refiner expects to process an average of 460,000 barrels of crude a day this month and next month, he said.
Separately, Taipei-based China Man-Made Fiber Corp (中國人造纖維) plans to spend about NT$3 billion building an ethylene glycol plant, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Sony, Chimei settle dispute
Sony Corp, the world’s third-largest television maker, and Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) settled their legal dispute over patents on LCD TVs and monitors, US court records showed on Tuesday.
“All pending patent litigations between the parties” have been settled, the companies said in a Dec. 16 notice to the US International Trade Commission in Washington. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Sony had targeted LCD monitors produced by Chimei for computer makers including Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co. Chimei, Taiwan’s largest flat-panel screen maker, sued to halt the sale of Sony products including Bravia televisions.
ProMOS wins one year in loans
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s No. 3 computer memorychip maker, said it has obtained approval from major credit banks to extend unspecified bank loans for another year, according to a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is