TAIEX gets high-tech boost
The TAIEX closed up 30.98 points, or 0.39 percent, at 7,832.98, on turnover of NT$80.59 billion (US$2.72 billion).
“The local bourse was basically driven by rotational buying as interest shifted to the financial sector from the high-tech sector today [yesterday],” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
Lite-On plans takeover bid
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), which makes power supply units used in electronic devices, yesterday said it planned to boost its stake in DVD player maker Lite-On IT Corp (建興電子) to 100 percent for as much as NT$17.45 billion via a subsidiary.
Lite-On currently holds a 42 percent stake in Lite-On IT.
The company plans to offer NT$32.75 for each Lite-On IT share, meaning a 22 percent premium compared with Lite-On IT’s closing price of NT$26.8 on the local bourse yesterday.
Chunghwa opens HR unit
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecommunications operator, yesterday launched a fully-owned human resource (HR) management unit, Honghwa Human Resources Co Ltd (宏華人力資源).
The company aims to use the unit to provide around-the-clock service for its customers and to better utilize its workforce.
Honghwa will help conduct recourse talent recruitment for Chunghwa.
Chunghwa needs to recruit new employees to staff the more than 50 outlets it plans to open this year.
Flat-panel sector output falls
The nation’s flat-panel industry posted negative growth last year because of a decline in the output value of midstream displays, the Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA, 光電協進會) said yesterday.
The output value of the sector, encompassing upstream components, midstream panels and downstream end products, fell 3.4 percent last year from a year earlier to NT$1.32 trillion.
The decline was driven by the 4.4 percent fall in the production value of midstream displays, such as LCD, LED and AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) panels, to NT$975.22 billion, the industry group said in a report.
However, the industry should rebound this year, with output value expected to grow 2.4 percent on increasing demand for 60-inch TV panels and ultra-high-definition TV panels, PIDA said.
Eslite debuts on GRETAI
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), a subsidiary of the Eslite Group (誠品集團) that focuses on operating department stores, yesterday saw its shares rise by more than 25 percent on its debut on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market.
Shares rose 26.92 percent to close at NT$198 on the local bourse to become the trade and department store sector’s highest-priced stock, stock exchange data showed.
The company — which operates 42 department stores and nine food and beverage outlets in Taiwan and Hong Kong — raised NT$41.33 million in the initial public offering, aiming to accelerate expansion in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong over the next five years.
NT dollar falls on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar dropped against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.011 to close at NT$29.570 as a result of the central bank’s intervention, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$1.05 billion 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],”