MSCI adjusts ratings
MSCI has lowered Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index from 12.07 percent to 12 percent, and in the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index from 15.79 percent to 15.75 percent.
In the MSCI All Country World Index, Taiwan’s rating was raised from 1.33 percent to 1.34 percent, according to the index compiler’s latest review.
No stocks have been removed from or added to the Taiwan index of the MSCI Global Standard Indexes and the total number of constituents has been maintained at 101.
The MSCI index adjustments are scheduled to take effect after the markets close on Aug. 29.
HannStar net profit down
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), which makes LCD panels for mobile devices, yesterday said its net profit declined 35 percent to NT$705 million (US$23.46 million) last quarter from NT$1.08 billion in the first quarter.
Gross margin fell to 24 percent last quarter from 30 percent in the earlier quarter and operating profit margin declined to 11 percent from 18 percent.
In the first half of this year, net profit plunged 54 percent to NT$1.78 billion from NT$3.84 billion in the same period last year.
Outlook positive: experts
Taiwan can expect an improving economic outlook over the next six months, according to the results of a world economic survey for the third quarter of the year conducted by the Germany-based Ifo Institute.
Experts interviewed about the nation’s economic development said the current overall economy, capital expenditure and private consumption stand at “satisfactory” levels, according to the survey released on Wednesday.
They predicted that Taiwan’s exports, stock market index and consumer price index would be on the rise over the next six months, the survey found.
The German institute interviewed 1,146 experts from 121 countries to compile the report on the global economic forecast.
AUO expenditure approved
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) said on Wednesday that its board approved an increase of capital expenditure by NT$6.992 billion, as the company plans to use the money to adjust its product mix, product specification and enhance product quality.
As of the end of first quarter, the company had spent NT$5.594 billion on fixed assets on a consolidated basis, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the company said it sold a plant in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) to its LED manufacturing subsidiary, Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子), for NT$1.14 billion. The company said it would book a disposal gain of NT$284.8 million.
Forex hurts Synnex
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強), Asia’s largest distributor of information technology products and electronics components, said on Tuesday that foreign exchange losses of NT$20 million caused its net profit to decline by 26 percent year-on-year to NT$1.15 billion in the second quarter, with earnings per share at NT$0.72.
In the April-June period, the firm’s consolidated sales fell 1 percent to NT$77.9 billion, and its gross margin for the second quarter fell 0.1 percentage points from a quarter earlier to 3.57 percent, while operating margin also fell to 1.41 percent from 1.34 percent on an annual basis.
Revenue in the second quarter fell 1 percent year-on-year, lower than the company’s previous guidance of an increase of between 6 and 7 percent, as China’s consumer market remained weak last quarter.
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