STEELMAKERS
Auto investment approved
China Steel Corp (中國鋼鐵), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said its board approved several investment plans, including a proposal to invest a combined NT$492 million (US$15.87 million) in existing auto venture Honley Auto Parts Co Ltd (宏利汽車部件公司) and on forming a new car part venture with Honley and China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co (中國汽車工程研究院) in Chongqing, China. The board also approved a plan to increase its holding in Vietnamese steelmaking venture Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵) via a subsidiary.
PLASTICS
Nan Ya bullish on earnings
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a unit of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), yesterday said the company’s new polyethylene terephthalate manufacturing facilities for optical use films are expected to begin operations in the third quarter of this year. Together with new production lines set to begin operation in China and Vietnam by the end of this year, the company expects its revenue to continue to grow this year with stable earnings prospects, Nan Ya chairman Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) said at the company’s annual general meeting in Taipei. Shareholders approved the company’s plan to distribute a NT$2.3 cash dividend, which translates to a dividend yield of 3.23 percent on yesterday’s closing share price of NT$71.5.
TIREMAKERS
Kenda eyes brighter outlook
Tire manufacturer Kenda Rubber Industrial Co (建大輪胎) yesterday said business in the second half of the year is expected to be better than the first half, as the negative impact of a port strike on the US west coast vanishes. In the first five months of the year, cumulative sales fell 6 percent year-on-year to NT$13.26 billion, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The Changhua County-based company also plans to increase the production capacity of its Indonesian plants in the fourth quarter of this year and its Vietnamese factories later next year to meet rising demand in the US, Kenda chairman Yang Ying-ming (楊銀明) told shareholders.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
FSC to probe Zodic Light
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would launch an investigation into alleged fraudulent stock trading involving biotech firm Zodic Light World Technology Inc (兆良科技), after prosecutors searched Zodic and its subsidiary and affiliates, summoning 14 people for questioning over the alleged fraud. Local media reported that Zodic chairman Hubert Lo (羅栩亮) set up the company in 2011 and claimed it had partnered with Chirana Group in Europe and signed a cross-border cooperation agreement with Honduras. However, prosecutors discovered that Zodic is only a shell company without any production facilities.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC, ARM to cooperate
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said on Monday it was joining with UK-based ARM Holdings PLC and US software developer Synopsys Inc to develop advanced 14-nanometer process technology and speed up the pace at which it serves its clients. Analysts said the move to team up with ARM and Synopsys is expected to help UMC achieve its target of launching commercial production of chips made using the 14-nanometer FinFET process next year, closing its technology gap on rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day