TAIEX rises 0.98 percent
The TAIEX rose 0.98 percent yesterday, led by the financial and electronics sectors, but trading volume plunged below NT$100 billion (US$3.38 billion) for the fourth trading day in a row.
Local investors remained on the sidelines, dealers said, adding that the market might be in for a short-term correction.
The weighted index closed up 78 points at 8,059.94. Turnover totaled NT$94.50 billion.
A total of 2,748 stocks closed up and 1,427 finished down, while 370 remained unchanged.
HTC to join Computex forum
Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said it would attend a summit forum at Computex Taipei for the first time this year to help promote the world’s second-largest information and communications technology (ICT) trade show.
HTC will deliver a keynote speech on June 6 at the CEO Summit Forum, but it has not decided on the topic and who will represent the company.
Chief marketing officer John Wang (王景鴻) said HTC would take part in the forum to do its social duty and help promote the biggest international exhibition in Taiwan.
He declined to comment on whether HTC would launch new products at Computex.
TAITRA trip nets orders
A Taiwan External Trade and Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) delegation to South America has brought back US$19.51 million in orders, the government-funded council said on Wednesday.
The council received US$19.51 million in orders upfront at promotional fairs for Taiwanese products, which it estimated would generate US$87.18 million in future business, TAITRA said. The number of potential buyers was 1,153, it added.
The Taiwan trade promotion trip to Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil from March 3 to March 19 was the first of its kind this year.
TAITRA statistics showed that the textile industries received the most orders on the trip, at 40 percent, followed by radio-frequency identification (RFID) wireless system goods with 30 percent, and watches and related accessories with 3 percent.
MediaTek to sell ALi stake
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chip designer, said on Wednesday that it planned to sell its stake in ALi Corp (揚智) in a move to shed non-core assets.
MediaTek paid NT$555 million for a 19 percent stake in ALi, which designs chips for digital set-top boxes, in 2004.
The Hsinchu-based company is the biggest single shareholder of ALi, owning 64.1 million shares, or 21 percent of the company, according to ALi’s Web site.
ALi ended 1.32 percent lower at NT$48.5 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, placing the value of MediaTek’s shareholding at NT$3.11 billion.
Glotech plans NT$800m bonds
Glotech Industrial Corp’s (德宏工業) board approved a proposal to sell up to NT$800 million of domestic convertible bonds, the Taoyuan-based company said in a stock exchange filing.
The board is proposing to sell NT$200 million of four-year convertible notes, NT$200 million of five-year convertible securities and up to NT$400 million of three-year convertible bonds, according to the filing.
Proceeds will be used to boost working capital and pay existing debt.
NT dollar rises slightly
The New Taiwan dollar rose marginally against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.002 to close at NT$29.574. Turnover totaled US$625 million.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained