TAIEX hit by profit-taking
The TAIEX finished down on profit-taking yesterday for the fourth time in five trading sessions this week, closing at its lowest level since April 20.
The index fell 55.85 points, or 0.63 percent, to 8,837.03, after moving between 8,822.75 and 8,944.38 on turnover of NT$95.398 billion (US$3.32 billion).
It was the lowest close since the index hit 8,813.28 on April 20. For the week, the index was down 1.9 percent.
Shares in LED makers slump
Everlight Electronics Co (億光) and Epistar Corp (晶電), makers of LEDs, fell in Taipei trading yesterday on speculation that Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology Corp (台灣表面黏著科技), which procures LEDs to make its products, is forecasting that prices may fall in the third quarter, said Vincent Yu, an analyst at Jih Sun Securities Co (日盛證券).
Everlight shares slid 6.93 percent to NT$75.2, the lowest level since May 4, 2009, while Epistar shares lost 4.63 percent to NT$84.5, the lowest level since Sept. 9 last year.
Hsinchu firms to recruit
Forty-six companies with operations in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), mostly electronics firms, plan to recruit about 5,800 new workers at a job fair to be held by the park administration next Saturday ahead of the upcoming graduation season, the park administration said in a press release yesterday.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the world’s second-biggest contract chipmaker, and the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), will participate in the job fair and they plan to recruit more than 1,100 staff, the press release said.
Separately, AUO Crystal Corp (友達晶材) purchased a NT$699.5 million facility from Kedge Construction Co (根基營造) yesterday, AU Optronics said in a stock exchange statement.
Investors vote to accept deal
Hong Kong investors who faced significant losses from financial products tied to collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc have voted to accept a deal to get some of their money back.
PricewaterhouseCoopers receivers said investors voted in favor of the agreement during three days of meetings that ended yesterday.
Sixteen banks who sold the products said in March that they would buy back the so-called “mini-bonds” from investors for up to 96.5 percent of their value — an improvement on about a 60 percent repayment in a 2009 agreement.
“Mini-bonds” and other financial products were sold to more than 40,000 investors, including retirees who invested their life savings. The value of the products, estimated by the government at US$2.6 billion, plummeted after Lehman collapsed.
Offshore wind farms touted
The nation should look to renewable energy by exploiting offshore wind power technology, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.
As the nation has not constructed any offshore wind farms, the government should accelerate the pace by coordinating with related industries, using Taiwan’s advantageous position as an island, the council said in a note.
The government should designate the appropriate areas for wind farms and perform environmental impact evaluations as a first step, it said.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, adding NT$0.072 to close at NT$28.780.
Turnover totaled US$703 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
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