TAIEX edges up 61.84 points
The local bourse ended in positive territory yesterday as market heavyweights staged a technical rebound following a steep decline in the previous session, dealers said.
Turnover was thin as many investors took to the sidelines, watching closely how foreign institutional investors would move after dumping a big chunk of local shares a day earlier, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 61.84 points, or 0.78 percent, at 8,029.46, after moving between 7,978.74 and 8,033.22.
Turnover totaled NT$81.68 billion (US$2.76 billion) during the session.
The plastics and chemical sectors scored the highest gains among the market’s eight largest sectors, finishing up 1 percent, while the paper and pulp sector closed down 0.4 percent.
MediaTek ranking slips to 22
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit designers, was the 22nd-largest chip supplier in the world last year, dropping three notches from 19th place in 2010, according to a report from market advisory firm iSuppli.
The report, released on Monday, showed MediaTek’s market share fell to 0.9 percent last year after its sales dropped 16.9 percent to US$2.95 billion.
iSuppli said US-based Intel Corp retained the largest chip supplier last year by generating US$48.72 billion in sales, which rose 20.6 percent from a year earlier.
Last year, Intel grasped a 15.6 percent share of the global chip market, compared with 13.1 percent recorded in 2010, iSuppli said.
Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea came in second as it took a 9.2 percent share of the global chip market last year, iSuppli said.
Samsung posted US$28.56 billion in sales last year, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, iSuppli said.
Elpida shares drop to ¥1
Elpida Memory Inc closed at ¥1 in Tokyo trading before a delisting that will wipe out shareholders in a company that was valued at more than US$1.1 billion before it filed for bankruptcy last month.
The chipmaker, whose customers include Apple Inc, will be delisted today after seeking court protection with ¥448 billion (US$5.4 billion) of liabilities last month. Elpida, which went public in November 2004, failed after losses in the past five quarters, exacerbated by falling chip prices and a rising yen, left it unable to repay debt.
Customers may have to pay more for chips if Elpida is liquidated, as the industry would lose 12 percent of capacity, according to TrendForce Corp, a Taipei-based research company.
In Taipei trading, Elpida’s Taiwan depositary receipts (TDRs) — which will also be delisted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange today — dropped 6.98 percent to NT$1.6 yesterday.
Formosa Plastics raises NT$6bn
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the nation’s largest maker of polyvinyl chloride, yesterday raised NT$6 billion via a bond sale that was priced at the tight end of expectations, according to data collected by underwriters.
The company sold NT$4 billion in five-year bonds at a yield of 1.26 percent and NT$2 billion in seven-year bonds at 1.42 percent.
NT rises against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.038 to close at NT$29.584.
Turnover totaled US$518 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],”