Share prices dip slightly
Taiwan share prices fell yesterday, stopping a three-day winning streak on mild profit-taking, but the index still managed to close above 7,100 points, with investors taking advantage of low valuations to recoup some of their early losses, dealers said.
The narrow fluctuation range showed cautious sentiment toward the debt situation in Europe after Italy and France encountered rising borrowing costs, while the possibility that Hungary will seek a financial bailout also worried the market, they said.
The TAIEX closed 10.35 points, or 0.15 percent, down at 7,120.51, after moving between 7,090.47 and 7,139.04, on turnover of NT$87.40 billion (US$2.89 billion).
Creativity key to biotech success
Creativity is the key to success for biopharmaceutical companies in Taiwan, a specialist said at an investment forum yesterday.
Investors and entrepreneurs can greatly reduce expenditure if they think from a different point of view and follow a different business model, said Hsu Ying-chang (許英昌), chairman of BioEpoch Corp (生醫總研), the organizer of the BioTech Investment Forum.
Local biotech companies starting out with less capital, for example, should focus on modifying existing generic drugs rather than pouring money into the research and development of breakthrough drugs, Hsu said.
He encouraged investors to look into improving the application of anti-cancer drugs.
SinoPac posts monthly loss
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday posted a net loss of NT$1.32 billion (US$43.54 million) for last month after the banking subsidiary increased bad loan provisions as required by the Financial Supervisory Commission to strengthen risk management.
Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), the group’s main source of income, set aside NT$1.45 billion in provisions last month, lifting its bad loan reserve ratio to 1 percent from 0.75 percent a month earlier, the parent company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The group stayed in the black last year with a net income of NT$3 billion, translating into NT$0.41 earnings per share, falling 40.86 percent from NT$5.08 billion net profit in 2010, the filing said.
Hua Nan to work with Chinese
Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), a banking arm of Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), said yesterday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangzhou-based China Guangfa Bank (廣發銀行) related to future business cooperation.
Under the accord, the partners will cooperate in the areas of corporate banking, trade financing, working-capital financing and the establishment of retail outlets. They will also exchange business information and encourage personnel exchanges.
First Financial reports profit
State-run First Financial Holdings Co (第一金控) yesterday reported NT$148 million in net profit for last month, although its securities brokerage subsidiary incurred losses.
The conglomerate owed its net income to its banking arm, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), which earned net NT$247 million, more than offsetting net losses of NT$52 million at the securities unit, the filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
Last year, net profits totaled NT$7.56 billion, or NT$1.07 earnings per share, representing a 7.45 percent improvement from the financial results in 2010, based on company statistics.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US currency yesterday, up NT$0.021 to close at NT$30.245.
Turnover totaled US$638 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