Profit-taking trims gains
Profit-taking late in Taipei trading compromised earlier gains as investor sentiment remained cautious about economic fundamentals in the US and Europe, dealers said yesterday.
With many investors staying on the sidelines, trading volume remained below NT$100 billion (US$3.45 billion) ahead of US President Barack Obama’s announcement of a stimulus package today, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 19.36 points, or 0.26 percent, at 7,548.37, after moving between 7,520.76 and 7,626.78, on turnover of NT$98.91 billion.
Acer gains from share sale
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 4 PC maker, booked a gain of about NT$276 million from selling 12.1 million shares in E-Life Mall Corp (全國電子) for NT$611 million from Sept. 9 last year to yesterday, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NT$35bn in T-bills sold
The government auctioned NT$35 billion in 91-day treasury bills at an interest rate of 0.637 percent yesterday, the central bank said in a telephone conference call.
The sale attracted bids for 2.62 times the amount of debt on offer, the central bank said.
The bank last sold similar-maturity bills on April 29 at 0.65 percent. That offer garnered a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.86 times.
Powerchip revenue plunges
DRAM chipmaker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday said revenues last month plummeted 47.6 percent to NT$2.06 billion from July’s NT$3.93 billion, as it halved production of DRAM chips.
On an annual basis, revenues were down 77 percent from NT$8.89 billion in the same period last year.
The nation’s top DRAM maker, Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), however, posted a 2.4 percent month-on-month increase in revenue last month to NT$2.4 billion.
However, it was down 54 percent from NT$5.26 billion a year earlier.
SAS seeks NT$11bn loan
Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (SAS, 中美晶) is seeking a loan of NT$11 billion (US$377 million) as part of the NT$13 billion it needs to fund the acquisition of Covalent Materials Corp’s wafer business, chief financial officer Simon Tai (戴上智) said.
SAS last month agreed to acquire the wafer unit of Japan’s Covalent for ¥35 billion (US$453 million). The company may choose to take out a syndicated loan of less than NT$11 billion to reduce the cost of servicing the debt, Tai said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The company is also considering alternative measures such as convertible bonds or global depositary receipts to take fundraising to the NT$13 billion level, he said.
Taishin’s August net profit fell
Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday reported a net profit of NT$500 million for last month, down 35.9 percent from one month earlier and 37.5 percent from the same period last year, according to a stock exchange filing.
Cumulative net income in the first eights months of the year totaled NT$7.05 billion, translating into earnings of NT$0.96 per share, the filing said.
Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), its main source of income, contributed NT$460 million, or 92 percent, although the lender’s net profit fell 26.1 percent last month from July, the filing said.
NT dollar retreats
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, shedding NT$0.035 to close at NT$29.15, on turnover of US$827 million.
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