STOCK MARKET
Companies’ revenues dip
The combined revenues of Taiwan’s listed companies totaled NT$28.6 trillion (US$850.56 billion) last year, representing an annual decline of 0.76 percent, or NT$214.4 billion, from a year earlier, statistics released yesterday from the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. A total of 346 listed companies saw their revenue grow from a year ago, while 479 faced a decline in revenue last year, the statistics showed. The Taiwan Stock Exchange said decreasing revenues in the nation’s stainless steel and petrochemical companies last year were mainly dragged down by the continued falling prices of basic metals and crude oil.
ENTERTAINMENT
Cayenne eyes Q1 profit
Cayenne Entertainment Technology Co (紅心辣椒) yesterday said that it expects to swing to profit this quarter on the back of the launches of new online games. The company has yet to release its earnings result for last year, but said it is to write-off impairment assets for last quarter. The company’s net losses totaled NT$238.25 million in the first three quarters of last year, which represents a loss per share of NT$8.61, compared with its net income of NT$37.34 million over the same period in the previous year. Cayenne said that after writing off all the impairment assets, the firm is expected to turn profitable this quarter.
ENTERTAINMENT
Wanin touts new HQ
Wanin International Co (網銀國際) yesterday said that its new headquarters in the Taichung Software Park (台中軟體園區) is expected to become operational and create 615 job opportunities by the end of next year. The online game software developer said that it has invested NT$1 billion in the new headquarters and expects the annual production value to reach NT$300 million when the construction is completed. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Export Processing Zone Administration said it expects more software companies to establish themselves in the Taichung Software Park following the entry of Wanin and to gradually form an industry cluster in the area.
TELECOMS
4G tourist card launched
Telecom operator Taiwan Star Telecom Co (台灣之星) has launched the nation’s first pre-paid 4G card for foreign tourists by charging users the same rates as its 3G services. Taiwan Star said that it expects subscriptions to surge 35 percent during the Lunar New Year holiday due to a nationwide increase in tourism. The pre-paid 4G card is expected to help the company take a 20 percent share of Taiwan’s total pre-paid card sales for foreign tourists this year, the company said in a statement released on Tuesday. The telecom company said that it plans to roll out pre-paid 4G cards for local consumers in the second quarter of this year.
Banking
E.Sun reports income boost
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) yesterday reported that its net income for last year increased 22.4 percent to NT$12.85 billion. Earnings per share was at NT$1.63. However, earnings last month dipped by nearly NT$700 million sequentially to NT$354.43 million, as the bank-focused group wrote off bad debts and non- performing loans to improve its asset quality. Meanwhile, E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) announced that its branch in Shenzhen has received approval from Chinese regulators to become a subsidiary, marking a first among Taiwanese banks with operations in China.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure