INVESTMENT
Warning over new rules
Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信) fund manager Wang Po-chi (王博祺) yesterday said retail investors should be cautious about the potential volatility of shares, as stocks listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and small-cap-dominated Taipei Exchange will from today be allowed to move within a 10 percent range from the previous closing price. The government hopes the move would boost the image of Taiwan as an internationalized market, while improving local market liquidity and boost trading. Wang said investors should refrain from over-leveraging their trades to avoid being forced to sell stocks.
REAL ESTATE
Transactions drop 12 percent
Transactions of residential and commercial property fell about 12 percent from May 1 to Tuesday last week compared with a month earlier on slow seasonal effects, according to statistics compiled by Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed property broker. Transactions of homes, shops and offices in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung fell about 10 percent from a month earlier during the 26-day period, while transactions in Kaohsiung rose 2 percent month-on-month.
APPLIANCES
First-quarter growth minimal
The nation’s technical consumer goods market saw sales grow 0.6 percent year-on-year to NT$54 billion (US$1.75 billion) in the first quarter, market researcher GfK Group said in a report released on Wednesday last week. Sales increases in telecommunications, small domestic appliances and major domestic appliances in the first quarter were offset by the sales declines in information technology, photography and consumer electronics, the report said.
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