OIL
Fuel prices to drop
Domestic gasoline prices could fall by NT$1.1 to NT$1.2 per liter next week to reflect the decline in global crude oil prices this week. State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) is expected to announce tomorrow its domestic fuel prices for next week. Based on CPC’s floating oil price mechanism — which is composed of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude — the average oil price dropped to US$58.05 per barrel early yesterday from US$62.84 per barrel a week earlier.
CRIME
Fake apparel siezed
Police in central Taiwan yesterday said they have seized about 1,500 items of counterfeit brand-name clothing in a copyright infringement case valued at NT$10 million (US$317,740). The clothes, bearing brand labels like Puma, Adidas, Nike and Burberry, were confiscated at three traditional markets in Greater Taichung and Changhua County, police said. The sellers admitted that the clothing items, which were being sold at NT$690 to NT$1,200 each, had been purchased in China and South Korea for NT$100 to NT$300 apiece, police said.
BANKING
Dual-currency cards planned
State-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), the banking arm and main source of income for Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控), plans to issue dual-currency credit cards, starting next year. The international trade-focused lender has obtained regulatory approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission for the new business, the bank said in a statement yesterday. The new credit cards would allow cardholders more convenience when shopping abroad, the statement said.
TECHNOLOGY
Chip tester mulls IPO
UTAC Holdings Ltd, the Singapore-based chip tester owned by Affinity Equity Partners Ltd and TPG Capital, is considering an initial public offering (IPO), people with knowledge of the matter said. The buyout firms are weighing a Singapore or NASDAQ listing for UTAC and have invited potential advisers to pitch for the deal, the sources said. The sale could take place around the middle of next year and proceeds would be used mainly to repay debt, they said. UTAC employs about 12,000 people across 10 manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and China.
PROPERTY
Fosun ups Club Med bid
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International (復星) yesterday raised its offer to buy French holiday group Club Med as it strives to win the longest bidding war in Paris market history against an Italian tycoon. Fosun bid 24.60 euros per share for Club Med, which values the iconic holiday brand at 939 million euros (US$1.15 billion).
TECHNOLOGY
Samsung might up dividends
Shares of Samsung Electronics Co finished 4.9 percent higher in Seoul trading yesterday after the company said it might increase dividends by as much as 50 percent. The Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a stock exchange filing that it would finalize its dividend plan late next month. Samsung paid out 14,300 won (US$13) per share in dividends last year. Samsung’s share price has underperformed due to concerns about shrinking sales of Galaxy smartphones and a slump in earnings. Shareholders have pressured the company to pay more dividends from its large cash reserves.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by