ASE board approves dividend
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager, yesterday said its board had approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.65 and a 14 percent stock dividend to its shareholders, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Last year, ASE made NT$13.73 billion in net profit, or earnings per share of NT$2.08.
In a separate statement, ASE said it would merge with its fully-owned memory chip packaging subsidiary, PowerASE Technology Inc (日月鴻), to enhance operational efficiency and to better utilize resources.
The merger is set to take effect on May 1.
Formosa Epitaxy to sell shares
LED chipmaker Formosa Epitaxy Inc (璨圓) yesterday said it plans to sell as many as 60 million common shares via a private placement to potential strategic investors in order to sell more chips, a company statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday.
The company said a bond issue was also a possible option.
If Formosa Epitaxy chooses to sell bonds, it plans to issue US$60 million either at home or overseas.
The fund-raising proposal will be on the agenda of the company’s annual general shareholders’ meeting scheduled for July 19.
Acer board approves results
Acer Inc’s (宏碁) board yesterday approved its financial results for last year.
Acer, the world’s No. 4 PC brand, lost NT$6.6 billion last year. After two consecutive quarterly losses, the company returned to the black in the final quarter of the year, during which it eked out a profit of NT$0.1 billion.
Consolidated revenues dropped 24 percent year-on-year to NT$475.3 billion.
Acer said it planned to hold a shareholders’ meeting on June 15 in Taipei to approve the financial statement.
Investors look to Myanmar
Taiwanese investors operating in Southeast Asia are beginning to shift their attention to Myanmar, which is expected to implement more economic reforms after parliamentary by-elections on Sunday.
Myanmar has been moving toward economic liberalization since it ended decades of military rule to make way for a new civilian government last year.
The upcoming by-elections, in which democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is running, could lead to an end to US and European sanctions, and more foreign investment.
At present, there are only about 100 Taiwanese businesses in Myanmar, most in the lumber, clothing, optical lenses, fiberglass and paper sectors.
Norman Chang (張峰豪), president of the Thai-Taiwan Business Association, said due to its geographical proximity to Thailand, Myanmar is a top choice for Thai-based Taiwanese investors who plan to expand or move their businesses out of Thailand, where labor costs are rising.
In addition to cheaper labor, land acquisition in Myanmar costs less, Chang said.
The large ethnic Chinese population in Myanmar also means fewer language barriers for Taiwanese investors, he added.
US data knocks NT dollar
The New Taiwan dollar weakened for the first time in three days as worse-than-expected US economic data sapped demand for riskier assets.
The NT dollar fell 0.04 percent to NT$29.582 against the greenback, according to Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$668 million.
The currency has appreciated 2.4 percent this quarter. One-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange rate swings which traders use to price options, was unchanged at 4 percent.
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