STOCK MARKETS
GTSM to launch incubation
The GRETAI Securities Market (GTSM, 櫃檯買賣中心), which operates the over-the-counter market, on Monday said that its new incubation board will open to investment on Jan. 10. The GTSM said the incubation board, which aims to help small companies raise funds, will be launched tomorrow. The launch will see 19 companies disclose information about their fundraising. Investors will then have to wait at least five business days before they can pour funds into the listed enterprises. The 19 companies to be registered on the incubation board will consist largely of cultural and creative enterprises, as well as farming, forestry and fishery businesses, and companies from the biotech and electronics sectors, the GTSM said. They include “green” energy technology firm Neo-Optic Tek Co (聚陽光能), multimedia platform provider Fevolution Innovation Inc (方進化創意整合) and King’s Ground Biotech Co (京冠生物科技).
STOCK MARKETS
Auto Server to list on GRETAI
Auto Server Co, a Japanese online used car dealer, is scheduled to launch a primary listing on the local over-the-counter market on Jan. 14. The car dealer operates an online platform, ASNET, that places bids for its members in second-hand car auctions, according to a prospectus it filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The Tokyo-based Auto Server is planning to issue 3.18 million new shares in the listing. The suggested price is from NT$100 to NT$110, it said. In the prospectus, Auto Server said it is capitalized at about NT$121.72 million (US$4 million) and aims to raise about NT$334 million in working capital, based on a tentative share issue price of NT$105. In the first nine months of last year, Auto Server’s net profit was NT$157.46 million, or NT$5.50 per share.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is