Cellphone stocks drag TAIEX
The TAIEX moved down to end below 7,500 points yesterday as certain large-cap high-tech stocks encountered heavy selling amid concerns over their earnings outlook for the second quarter, dealers said.
Led by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), cellphone-related firms ended lower after Hon Hai’s subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings (富士康), issued a profit warning on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, dealers said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) bucked the falling index to boost the local integrated circuit sector after the world’s largest contract chip maker posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, they added.
The TAIEX closed down 40.85 points, or 0.54 percent, at 7,480.50, after moving between 7,459.75 and 7,598.45, on turnover of NT$93.91 billion (US$3.20 billion).
Foxconn eyes Brazil investment
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) said it is evaluating investment opportunities with Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, the world’s 10th-wealthiest person. Batista said the Taiwanese company is planning investment in a port project in Rio de Janeiro state.
“We’re looking for business opportunities with Mr Batista,” said Simon Hsing (邢治平), spokesman for Taipei-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the flagship company of the Foxconn Technology Group.
“We are considering all options, including Acu Port, and haven’t decided on the final plan,” Hsing said.
Hsing declined to comment on Batista’s announcement on Thursday that Foxconn intends to build a factory to make car batteries and solar panels in Brazil.
Aviation center opens
An exclusive aviation business center was opened on Thursday at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), paving the way for more business jets to use the downtown Taipei airport.
EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest carrier, won the bid late last year to operate the center for 10 years.
It was estimated that about 100 business jets per month would land and take off at the new center in the years ahead amid growing demand, thanks mainly to increased cross-strait travel.
The number of business jets using the airport has been on the rise in recent years, jumping from 192 in 2009 to 686 last year, Civil Aeronautics Administration statistics show.
CCCME plans Taiwan office
The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) will soon submit its application to set up a representative office in Taiwan, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping (蔣耀平) said at the third meeting of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee in New Taipei City (新北市) on Thursday.
Jiang said the Taiwan External Trade Development Council has already applied to set up an office in Shanghai, so CCCME will soon follow suit.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.08 to close at NT$29.332 as further fund inflows boosted demand for the currency, dealers said.
Expectations are also mounting among traders that the central bank will allow the NT dollar to appreciate further against the US dollar in a bid to counter rising inflationary pressures in the local market, they said.
Turnover totaled US$912 million during yesterday’s trading session.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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