TAIEX down 0.07 percent
The TAIEX closed down 0.07 percent yesterday as investors adopted a wait-and-see attitude with the Lunar New Year holiday approaching, dealers said.
The benchmark index slid 6.59 points to 8,947.79, after moving between 8,927.49 and 8,993.56, on turnover of NT$94. 53 billion (US$3.25 billion), the lowest volume for two months.
A total of 1,396 stocks closed up, 2,800 finished down, and 418 remained unchanged.
Hon Hai sues Suyin Corp
Suyin Corp (實盈) said it has hired lawyers to defend it in legal proceedings brought by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), the Taipei-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The lawsuit would not affect the company’s sales or shipments, the statement said.
Hon Hai’s Chinese unit sued Suyin’s China unit in Dongguan for allegedly infringing its patents for central processing unit sockets, Hon Hai said. The suit was filed with the Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court.
Exports to grow by 10%
Taiwan will likely see 10 percent growth in exports this year thanks to the landmark trade pact signed between Taiwan and China last year, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday.
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) has further liberalized trade across the Taiwan Strait and created tariff reductions, Shih said in a keynote speech delivered at Academia Sinica.
The market-opening moves stipulated in the ECFA will also create new business opportunities in Taiwan, Shih added.
Against this backdrop, the minister said, “there should be no problem in achieving 10 percent growth in exports this year.”
Meanwhile, Shih forecast that the ECFA will attract an estimated NT$1.1 trillion (US$34.4 billion) in private investment to Taiwan this year.
CEPD targets 4.9% jobless rate
The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) set a target of 4.82 percent for economic growth this year, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The council also targeted a jobless rate of 4.9 percent this year, according to the statement.
GFS secures Asiaworld floor
Global Funeral Service Co (GFS, 國寶服務) yesterday won the second foreclosure auction for the second floor in the Asiaworld Department Store (大亞百貨) right in front of Taipei Train Station for NT$574 million, the Taipei District Court said.
The funeral service provider won the second floor, which measures 783.7 ping (2,586m2) and is currently leased to an asset management firm, with a 25 percent premium on expectation of a 4 percent return.
The result of the auction translated into NT$733,500 per ping while the monthly rental is NT$2,500 per ping.
CHT returns to local bourse
Shares in Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) are scheduled to resume trading on the local stock market at NT$88.87 per share today.
The stock has been uspended from trading since Jan. 7 because of a 20 percent reduction in the firm’s paid-in capital from NT$96.97 billion to NT$77.57 billion.
NT dollar up against US dollar
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, gaining NT$0.1 to close at NT$29.32 on demand for the local currency from exporters and foreign banks, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$806 million during the trading session.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to