ECONOMY
3.74% Q1 GDP growth: ANZ
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) yesterday set its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth last quarter at 3.74 percent on the back of better domestic demand. The forecast is higher than the government’s projection in February of 3.5 percent for the January-to-March period. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics is due to announce first-quarter growth figures on Thursday next week. ANZ in February raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year from 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent, saying that cheaper oil prices would cut import costs and boost trade surplus.
ELECTRONICS
No stock split for Largan
Largan Precision Co (大立光), which makes smartphone lenses, yesterday said it has not considered a stock split. The firm’s remarks came after its shares surged 4.07 percent to a record high of NT$3,065 yesterday, prompting Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), the publisher of the Chinese-language Business Today (今周刊) weekly, to suggest that Largan consider a stock split to lower costs for investors and issue more dividends. Largan said it has not considered such a move as Taiwan lacks relevant regulations, adding that it distributed cash dividends since 2008 and does not plan to alter the policy.
SEMICONDUCTORS
N America rides high: SEMI
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers rose to 10 month high at 1.1 last month, indicating a positive sentiment in the industry, trade association SEMI said in a statement on Tuesday. The three-month average of worldwide bookings rose 4.6 percent to US$1.37 billion last month from February, while the three-month average of worldwide billings fell 2.4 percent to US$1.25 billion, which brought the book-to-bill ratio to 1.1 last month, compared with 1.03 in February.
SOLAR POWER
Firm to offer new shares
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), the nation’s biggest solar wafer maker by capacity, yesterday said its board approved a NT$600 million (US$19.3 million) fundraising plan via 34.68 million new shares. Green Energy has decided to price the new shares at NT$17.3 each, it said in a statement. San Chih Semiconductor Co (尚志半導體) and Chih Sheng Holding Co (志生投資) have agreed to subscribe to the new shares, the statement added. Green Energy, San Shih and Chih Sheng are units of Tatung Group (大同集團), a domestic home appliances brand.
ENERGY
Taipower boosts cash prize
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is to host a nationwide power conservation competition with a top prize of NT$500,000 cash. To encourage more people to join the contest, the utility plans to give away a total of NT$22.5 million this year, which is 66 percent more than last year’s total prizes of NT$13.5 million, it said. A total of 88,000 households participated in the competition last year, Taipower said.
INVESTMENTS
Cross-strait funds approved
The Investment Commission yesterday said it has approved the state-run Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) to transfer US$165 million to China for setting up a branch in the city of Guangzhou. The commission also approved Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南商業銀行) to wire US$83 million to its branch in Shenzhen, China, the commission said in a statement.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San