STOCK MARKET
Chien Shing trade restricted
The nation’s stock exchange regulator yesterday banned Chien Shing Stainless Steel Co (千興) from trading its shares on margin starting today, after the firm’s net value fell below the threshold of NT$5 per share to NT$4.39. In other words, trading in Chien Shing shares will be restricted to cash-only transactions, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE). Chien Shing, whose share price closed at NT$2.46 yesterday, has suspended its operation in Tainan’s Madou District (麻豆) for one month, after reporting losses of NT$156 million (US$4.73 million) last quarter, or a NT$0.56 loss per share. Separately, Tainan Enterprise (Cayman) Co Ltd (台南企業) will also be suspended for margin trading on its shares, beginning today, the TWSE said.
STOCK MARKET
Global Sweeteners to delist
Global Sweeteners Holdings Ltd (大成糖業控股) is scheduled to delist its Taiwan Depository Receipts (TDRs) on the local bourse on Dec. 29, after an auditor’s report on the company’s financial statements failed to meet the local stock exchange’s rules, Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE) said yesterday. Global Sweeteners, which focuses mainly on corn-refined and corn sweeteners, has traded its shares in Hong Kong since 2007. Before the day of delisting, a TDR holder may continue to trade the TDR in Taiwan or apply to the company’s depository institution, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), to convert the TDR into ordinary shares of HK$0.1 each.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Drug patent approved
Taiwan Liposome Co (台灣微脂體), a developer of generic drugs used to treat breast and ovarian cancer, yesterday said the Japan Patent Office has approved its patent for its ophthalmic drug delivery system containing phospholipid and cholesterol. This came after the company secured the patent for prolonging drug lifetime in the eyes in the US and New Zealand last year and from China last month. Taiwan Liposome has also filed ophthalmic drug delivery patent applications with the authorities in Taiwan, Europe and Australia. Applications of the patent include the company’s new drug Prodex, the company said.
SHIPPING
U-Ming enters partnership
U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (裕民航運), a member of Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), yesterday said it has formed a partnership with LM Ericsson of Sweden to optimize its maritime fleet management. Under the partnership, Ericsson will provide its end-to-end connected vessel and voyage optimization solutions to the Taiwanese bulk carrier. Under the terms of the agreement, Stockholm-based company Ericsson will manage day-to-day operations and maintenance of the solution, along with initial installation and integration. The agreement marks Ericsson’s first bulk carrier deal globally, according to a joint statement.
PANEL MAKERS
Global shipments decline
Global shipments of large-sized TV panels declined last month from a month earlier due to TV brand names’ inventory adjustments, said WitsView, TrendForce Corp’s (集邦科技) flat-panel research unit. Last month’s shipments were 22.93 million units worldwide, down 6.3 percent from September, but up 6.4 percent from the previous year, WitsView said in a research note. Large-sized TV panel shipments for this quarter are expected to fall 1 percent from last quarter, WitsView said.
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
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
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts