ECONOMY
Minister backs fund
Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) yesterday said he would suggest that the government allow the National Stabilization Fund to remain in the market into January next year, when the presidential elections are scheduled. Chang told the legislature’s Finance Committee that the presence of the state-run fund will help smooth any impact from external factors. The NT$500 billion (US$15.09 billion) fund was activated on Aug. 25 as local shares suffered heavy losses resulting from turmoil in global equity markets. The fund’s steering committee is to hold its regular meeting on Oct. 15 to review market performance during the period the fund has been active.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai seeks help: report
Apple Inc supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is planning to ask the iPhone maker to jointly invest funds to buy a stake in Sharp Corp’s LCD business, according to Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun. The newspaper said the Taiwanese suitor is expected to spend ¥200 billion (US$1.67 billion) to buy part of the LCD business, while mulling the possibility of having Apple as a partner in the buy out deal. Sharp is under rising pressure to find an investor for its flat-panel business after the Japanese company last week said its financial results in the current period would fall short of expectations. Hon Hai declined to comment on the report.
ENTERTAINMENT
XPEC gains shareholder nod
Game developer XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技) yesterday said shareholders approved a company plan to sell 28 million new common shares via private placement to raise NT$2 billion as part of the firm’s efforts to acquire China’s Xiamen ETombo Technology Ltd (廈門同步網路). XPEC Entertainment plans to collect another NT$3.3 billion via bond sales and bank loans to fund the NT$5.3 billion acquisition, aiming to expand its presence in the Chinese retail market. The deal was announced in October last year and gained regulatory approval from the Investment Commission in June.
STOCK MARKET
Deal prompts reshuffle
Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp on Tuesday announced that Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台壽保) on Friday will be removed from the FTSE TWSE Taiwan Mid-Cap 100 Index, as the company has been acquired by CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), which is listed on the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index. The vacated spot on the Taiwan 100 index will be filled by Elite Material Co (台光電), one of the world’s leading printed circuit board suppliers, which specializing in copper clad laminate components and lamination production services. Elite Material Co fell 0.56 percent to NT$71.5 on Friday in Taipei trading.
TRADE
Talks miss exemption issue
Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) yesterday said the 11th round of formal negotiations over the cross-strait trade in goods agreement did not tackle the issue of the scope of Taiwan’s products to be exempted from Chinese tariffs or vice versa. Yang, who jointly led the team to Beijing, said the two sides did not go through every item of each industry during the meeting on Monday and Tuesday. Because Taipei and Beijing hope to complete the negotiations before the end of this year, they agreed to hold the next round of formal negotiation as soon as possible, Yang said.
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