TAIEX closes down 0.08%
The TAIEX recouped some of its early losses yesterday on the back of interest in the old-economy sector, while the bellwether electronics sector remained haunted by lingering concerns over slowing global demand, dealers said.
Possible further monetary loosening measures by the US Federal Reserve created concern among investors that the New Taiwan dollar will continue to rise on ample funds, which will impact the country’s global competitiveness, in particular in the high-tech sector, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 6.71 points, or 0.08 percent, at 8,481.35, after moving between 8,410.44 and 8,531.96 on turnover of NT$120.05 billion (US$4.15 billion).
MediaTek shares rebound
Shares of MediaTek Inc (聯發科), one of the nation’s leading integrated circuit designers, staged a rebound yesterday from the previous session after the company announced a buyback plan to bolster the share price, dealers said. The stock closed up 4.45 percent at NT$258.
MediaTek announced on Wednesday that it would buy back 8 million shares at NT$247 and NT$371 from the open market between yesterday and Sept. 13 by spending up to NT$3 billion. The buyback announcement came after the stock ended on Wednesday at a new low of NT$247 since February 2009.
Coretronic to buy back shares
LCD display maker Coretronic Corp (中光電) plans to buy back 30 million common shares, or 4.14 percent of its outstanding stock, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement yesterday.
It said it plans to repurchase the stock at between NT$23.59 and NT$66.06 from today to Sept. 14.
Nomura foresees settlement
Nomura Securities said yesterday that Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) would seek a settlement with Apple Inc after the iPhone maker filed two patent complaints against it.
“For now it is difficult to foretell the outcome of the patent battle, but I think HTC will try to reach a settlement with Apple to avoid a ban on sales of its products in the United States, which accounts for a big part of its revenue,” Nomura analyst Aaron Jeng (鄭明宗) told reporters.
North America constituted 50.6 percent of HTC’s total revenues last year, compared with 32.3 percent from Europe and 17.1 percent from Asia and other regions, dealers said.
China Merchants MOU inked
First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) said yesterday it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on business cooperation with China Merchants Bank (招商銀行).
The two will promote personnel exchanges and share resources and market information in a bid to build a platform for providing a wider range of financial services between Taiwan and China, First Commercial said in a statement.
The move came after China Merchants Bank president Ma Weihua (馬蔚華) visited First Bank chairman Joseph Tsai (蔡慶年) last month.
First Bank has also set up partnerships with Bank of China (中國銀行), Bank of Communications (交通銀行), Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (中國工商銀行).
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US currency yesterday, adding NT$0.061 to close at NT$28.839 as foreign banks dumped the greenback, betting that further fund inflows would continue to boost the local currency, dealers said. Turnover totaled US$717 million during the trading session, down from US$798 million.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the