ACQUISITIONS
FTC approves Micron plan
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday approved Micron Technology Inc’s plan to purchase the remaining 67 percent stake in its Taiwanese DRAM arm, Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), in a deal worth about NT$130 billion (US$4.02 billion). The transaction is expected to be completed in the middle of this year and after that Inotera will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Micron Semiconductor Taiwan Co, a unit of the US company. Micron, the world’s No. 3 DRAM chipmaker, is offering NT$30 per common share to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Inotera, as it aims to boost its long-term operational efficiency.
ACQUISITIONS
Hon Hai eyes TeleEye
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it is to spend HK$240.33 million (US$30.98 million) to acquire a 50.07 percent stake in TeleEye Holdings Ltd (千里眼控股) — a Hong Kong-based surveillance camera applications supplier. Hon Hai is to purchase 419.06 million shares worth HK$0.55 per share on the open market after authorities in Hong Kong approved its planned investment, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Hon Hai said the investment is part of its efforts to develop its new business, without elaborating.
INVESTMENT
Board approves new shares
Taiwan Land Development Corp (台灣土地開發) yesterday said its board has decided to issue up to 80 million new shares to boost its working capital. The company said in a stock exchange filing that it plans to issue the new shares at NT$15 per share via a private placement at an undecided date within the next 12 months. The goal of the move is to raise funds for long-term development and strategic investment purposes, the company said.
SHIPPING
New service to be launched
Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運), the nation’s third-largest container shipping company in terms of fleet size, yesterday announced to expand further on its present intensive intra-Asia network by launching a China-Manila-Thailand Service (CMT) with a maiden voyage on April 26. The joint venture service with Japan’s Interasia Lines Ltd (IAL) is to see Wan Hai operate two vessels of 700 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) type and IAL with one 700-TEU vessel. Wan Hai said the launch of the CMT service will enhance direct connections between China and ASEAN countries and among ASEAN countries.
AVIATION
Tigerair to open new route
Tigerair Taiwan (台灣虎航), a budget airline joint venture between China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and Singapore’s Tiger Airways, yesterday said it is opening a flight route serving Sendai in Japan. The company said it will launch the Taoyuan-Sendai route beginning on June 29, making it the first budget airline to offer direct flights to Japan’s Tohoku Region.
INVESTMENT
Companies record Q1 dip
Taiwanese companies listed on the nation’s main bourse saw their total consolidated revenue contract by 1.21 percent year-on-year to NT$2.3 trillion last month, according to a statement by Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp on Tuesday. The decline in last month’s sales was attributed to weakening performance of the optoelectronics sector, oil and gas industries, as well as communication and networking companies. During the first quarter of the year, listed companies’ total sales were NT$6.3 trillion, down 4.8 percent year-on-year.
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
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by