TAIEX inches down
The TAIEX closed down 0.67 percent yesterday, with technology shares leading the slide after Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s second-largest PC vendor, gave a negative forecast for its first-quarter sales on Friday, dealers said.
The weighted index closed 57.33 points lower, ending the day at 8,553.06, on turnover of NT$78.556 billion (US$2.66 billion).
Acer’s shares plunged by the daily maximum allowed level of 7 percent to close at NT$67.80 on the main index.
Local contract laptop maker Wistron Corp (緯創) also saw its shares tumble 7 percent.
CPC project faces suspension
Local refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) could suspend a NT$20 billion investment plan in Taiwan as the government tightens restrictions on exporting oil products, the local Chinese--language Commercial Times newspaper reported yesterday.
Formosa Petrochemical would be forced to suspend the plan to boost capacity at its naphtha crackers after the government’s plan to cut up to 2 million kilo-liters of diesel products a year, the paper said, citing remarks made by company chairman Wilfred Wang (王文潮).
Originally, the oil refiner had planned to boost output from 540,000 barrels a day to 590,000 barrels.
Construction loans set record
The nation’s construction loans hit a fresh high of NT$1.307 trillion last month, the central bank said yesterday.
That means an increase of NT$6.1 billion, compared with NT$1.3 trillion in January, the bank’s data showed.
Construction loans expanded for the 13th consecutive month last month, from NT$1.043 trillion in January, the data showed.
The loans of house buyers reached NT$5.19 trillion last month, down NT$495 million from a month earlier, according to the bank’s data.
BOT signs agreement
Bank of Taiwan (BOT, 台灣銀行) signed an agreement with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行) to cooperate in areas including trade financing, clearing and exchange of information and personnel training, the Taiwanese lender said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Mega Bank sells debt
The board of Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) approved a plan to sell NT$4.7 billion of seven-year subordinated debentures at an annual interest rate of 1.65 percent to meet medium to long-term need for funds, Mega Financial Holding Co, the lender’s parent, said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday.
NT dollar remains steady
The Taiwan dollar yesterday traded near a two-week high, supported by expectations that the central bank will raise interest rates for the fourth time in a year.
The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) will raise its discount rate on 10-day loans by 12.5 basis points to 1.75 percent on Thursday, according to all but one of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Concern about radiation leaks at a crippled nuclear power plant in Japan is weighing on demand for regional assets, according to Eric Hsing, a debt trader at First Securities Inc (第一金證券) in Taipei.
“Taiwan’s yield premium over the US may attract more foreign investors, driving gains in the currency,” Hsing said.
The New Taiwan dollar was little changed at NT$29.499 against the greenback. The currency touched NT$29.440 on Friday, the strongest level since March 10.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six