Large caps lead TAIEX rebound
The TAIEX rebounded 0.57 percent yesterday, backed by gains in large-cap stocks, but volume remained relatively thin, as investors continued to grapple with uncertainties weighing down the local bourse and Europe’s debt crisis.
The benchmark index ranged between a high of 7,220.10 and a low of 7,164.90 before closing up 41.04 points at 7,192.23 on turnover of NT$53.59 billion (US$1.81 billion).
A total of 1,816 stocks closed up, 1,886 finished down and 518 were unchanged.
Seven of the market’s eight major stock categories closed up, with financial shares posting the biggest gains at 0.9 percent. Electronics shares, automobile stocks and energy-saving concept stocks also outperformed the broader market throughout the trading session.
Ministry to help HTC
The Ministry of Economic Affairs “will definitely provide HTC (宏達電) with appropriate assistance,” a top Cabinet official told reporters on the sidelines of a legislative hearing yesterday.
However, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) declined to give details on how and what the ministry would do, saying that since the HTC-Apple legal dispute was ongoing, the government would maintain a low profile, instead of touting what measures can and will be taken.
HTC said on May 16 that its One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones were barred entry to the US by customs officials following an exclusion order filed by the US International Trade Commission.
HTC said on Sunday that some of its smartphones had passed inspections and had been released to its carrier customers.
Evergreen to launch new route
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container shipping firm in terms of fleet scale, yesterday announced it would launch a new route between south India and the Persian Gulf on June 5.
Two 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels will be deployed in the service, the company said in a statement.
The service will depart and arrive in the same city — India’s Cochin — followed by two stopovers in Sri Lanka’s Colombo and the United Arab Emirates’ Jebel Ali.
Meanwhile, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Taiwan’s second-largest container shipper, yesterday said it had inked a contract with Hung Hua Construction Co Ltd (宏華營造) for the construction plans of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) container terminal project at Kaohsiung Harbor, bid by its subsidiary Kao Ming Container Terminal Corp (高明貨櫃碼頭).
The contract is worth NT$2.2 billion to NT$2.5 billion, Yang Ming said.
Sany gets loan commitments
Sany Group Co (三一集團), owner of China’s biggest machinery maker, received commitments from 10 banks for its US$200 million-equivalent three-year loan, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) and Tai Fung Bank Ltd (大豐銀行) committed US$17 million each, while Cathay United Bank Co (國泰世華銀行) pledged US$15 million and Nanyang Commercial Bank Ltd (南洋商業銀行) provided HK$132.6 million (US$17 million), the person said, asking not to be identified.
HSBC Holdings PLC, the loan’s arranger and bookrunner, committed US$25 million, the person said.
Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Hang Seng Bank (恒生銀行), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (上海浦東發展銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企業銀行) pledged US$23 million, the person said.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained value on the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.052 to close at NT$29.578, on turnover of US$684 million.
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