TAIEX rises 40 points
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday as rotational buying lifted the high-tech sector, but the gains were limited by a lackluster showing on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 40.00 points, or 0.46 percent, to 8,824.44, after moving between 8,768.35 and 8,842.17, on turnover of NT$112.67 (US$3.92 billion).
Luxury tax yields NT$105.9m
The Ministry of Finance said yesterday the implementation of a luxury tax on short-term property transactions and imported luxury goods had boosted the national coffers by NT$105.92 million as of the end of last month, after the levy was introduced on June 1.
That figure included tax revenues of NT$1.35 million collected from real-estate transactions and NT$104.56 million from the levy of imported luxury goods, the ministry’s taxation agency said.
Based on the agency’s data, a total of 272 luxury cars with price tags of more than NT$3 million were hit with a 10 percent tax last month. However, the agency did not provide figures for the revenues collected from the sales of luxury furniture and fur.
Quanta employee embezzles
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) expects losses of no more than NT$60 million after an employee embezzled funds, according to a company statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The company has taken legal action against the employee, it said. There is no future financial impact, as the embezzled funds were already recognized as expenses in the applicable accounting periods, the company said.
Meanwhile, Quanta will invest US$15 million to set up its Zhanyun Chongqing Electronics Co (展運重慶電子) unit in China to manufacture notebook computers and peripherals, the company said.
Taiwan Life gets approval
Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to start operations at a venture with Xiamen C&D Inc (廈門建發) in Zhejiang Province, the Taipei-based insurer said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
The venture, King Dragon Life Insurance Co (君龍人壽), was set up in late 2008 to open for business in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province.
Marco Polo to isssue TDRs
Marco Polo Marine Ltd (馬可波羅海業集團), a Singapore-based ship-chartering firm, will issue Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs) to raise funds for ship purchases and the construction of a new drydock, underwriter Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券) said yesterday.
Marco Polo Marine plans to issue 51,190 TDR units to raise NT$440 million, according to Polaris.
Marco Polo Marine has been listed on Singapore’s main board since Feb. 4, 2009.
Delegation visits Hanoi
A 20-member delegation led by Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會) chairman Preston Chen (陳武雄) arrived in Hanoi yesterday on a three-day visit to assess the trade and investment environment in Vietnam.
As of May, Taiwan had invested US$3.20 billion in Vietnam, accounting for 4.79 percent of the country’s total foreign investments of US$66.78 billion.
In the first five months of this year, exports to Vietnam totaled US$2.94 billion, up 31.4 percent from a year earlier, while Vietnam’s exports to Taiwan during the same period rose 54.8 percent to US$515 million.
NT falls against US dollar
The New Taiwan dollar fell against its US counterpart yesterday, down NT$0.05 to close at NT$28.851. Turnover totaled US$606 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],”