TSMC board passes capex plan
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top contract chipmaker, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a capital appropriation of US$3.05 billion, mainly for expansion of advanced capacity.
The board also approved a proposal to inject US$2 billion into wholly owned subsidiary TSMC Global Ltd to reduce its foreign-exchange hedging costs.
In addition, the board gave the go-ahead to the promotion of general counsel Sylvia Fan (方淑華) and director of human resources Connie Ma (馬慧凡) as company vice presidents.
Acer unveils newest laptop
PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday unveiled the world’s first Chromebook laptop powered by a mobile chipset from Nvidia Corp to expand its line of Web-centric computers.
The Acer Chromebook 13 will start shipping later this month and will be available in European, North American and Asia-Pacific markets with a starting price of US$279, the company said in a press release.
The company posted its latest sales results on Monday, with consolidated revenue declining 31.29 percent sequentially to NT$25.11 billion (US$835.3 million) last month due to inventory adjustment. On an annual basis, consolidated sales last month were down 12.05 percent. Cumulative sales in the first seven months of the year totaled NT$183.19 billion, down 12.71 percent from a year earlier, the company said.
Formosa Plastics to sell shares
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, said on Monday that it plans to sell about 42.5 million shares of Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑化) by the end of this year.
Based on Formosa Petrochemical’s closing price of NT$73.7 on Monday in Taipei, Formosa Plastics would generate an income of NT$3.13 billion from selling its holding in the nation’s only listed oil refiner.
The company’s announcement followed those made by Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台化), which produces aromatics and styrenics, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the nation’s largest plastics maker. Together, they plan to sell a total of 1.5 percent of Formosa Petrochemical’s shares by the end of this year, reducing their shareholding in the company to about 75 percent.
LCY stock stabilizing: dealers
Shares of LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學) showed signs of stabilizing yesterday after plunging for seven straight sessions because of its potential liability for the gas pipeline explosions in Greater Kaohsiung on July 31 and Aug. 1.
The stock fell 0.66 percent to close at NT$15.05 in Taipei trading. Before yesterday, it had fallen by the maximum daily limit of 7 percent for seven consecutive sessions, driving the stock’s value down almost 40 percent since the blasts.
The stock is likely to consolidate until the chemical company’s legal and financial responsibilities from the blasts become clearer, dealers said.
Ministry picks TAITRA head
The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Monday appointed Francis Liang (梁國新), an adviser to the Cabinet, to serve as chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), replacing Wang Chih-kang (王志剛), who has led the trade promotion body for the past six years.
The appointment of the 63-year-old Liang, a former deputy minister of economic affairs, will be discussed at TAITRA’s next board meeting, the ministry said in a statement.
Wang, 72, “has completed his mission,” the statement said, praising him for lifting the image of Taiwanese products.
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
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