UMC plans more stake buys
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s second-largest contract chipmaker, plans to buy an additional stake of up to 30 percent in China’s HeJian Technology (Suzhou) Co (和艦科技) for up to US$87 million, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said by telephone.
The company’s board approved the share purchase plan yesterday and plans to finalize the deal with HeJian’s major shareholders within one to two months, Liu told the Taipei Times.
The purchase of shares in Best Elite International Ltd, which currently owns 100 percent of HeJian stock, would take UMC’s stake in the chipmaker to as much as 45 percent, Liu said. The company currently owns 15 percent of HeJian.
The Hsinchu-based company will request approval from the Investment Commission to make the deal, Liu added.
Supply pushes HTC shares up
HTC Corp (宏達電) saw its shares rise the most in three weeks in Taipei yesterday after chief executive Peter Chou (周永明) said the company is not short of materials and is in close contact with its suppliers in Japan after the earthquake on Friday last week.
“I think everyone’s overreacting. Right now we don’t have any shortages,” Chou told reporters at a conference. “For March and April at least, we don’t see any impact.”
HTC, the world’s largest maker of handsets using Google Inc and Microsoft Corp operating systems, surged 6.7 percent to NT$1,030 at the close of trading yesterday, its biggest advance since Feb. 25. HTC rebounded from a 5.9 percent decline the previous day.
Stability fund not planned: Chen
Taiwan is not considering using government funds to stabilize the local stock market, which tumbled on Tuesday amid market jitters over the crisis in Japan, Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳?) said yesterday.
Chen, who doubles as the chairman of the National Stabilization Fund committee, said the Ministry of Finance is closely monitoring fluctuations in the stock market and believed that it was not yet time to activate the fund.
The benchmark TAIEX fell 3.35 percent on Tuesday, the sharpest drop in 14 months, but rebounded yesterday with a rise of 1.09 percent.
Interest rate hike still likely
The nation’s central bank is still likely to raise the benchmark interest rate by 12.5 basis points this month despite the impact of the earthquake in Japan on Friday last week, economists said yesterday.
Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan chief economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said it remained highly likely the central bank would hike interest rates at its first-quarter board meeting amid the current gentle inflation in Taiwan.
Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), chief economist of Citigroup Taiwan, also maintained his prediction on an increase of 12.5 basis points.
Unless radiation leaks from the unfolding nuclear power plant crisis in Japan spiral out of control or the disaster results in global financial disorder, the central bank will maintain its pace of raising interest rates, he added.
Gintech approves CTCI venture
Gintech Energy Corp’s (昱晶能源) board approved a plan to set up a solar power development company with CTCI Group (中鼎工程), the solar cell maker said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The venture will have an initial capital of NT$100 million (US$3.38 million), the Miaoli-based company said.
NT dollar inches up
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, up NT$0.003 to close at NT$29.556.
Turnover totaled US$871 million during the trading session.
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],”