COSMETICS
Dr Wu shares skyrocket
Shares of Dr Wu Skincare Co Ltd (達爾膚生醫科技) yesterday rose 40.96 percent on its debut on the over-the-counter market. The shares at one point climbed to NT$280 — a 48.94 percent rise from their listing price of NT$188 — before retreating to close at NT$265 on the Taipei Exchange. The company was established in March 2003, with a special focus on its own brand of hypoallergenic skincare products. Dr Wu generates about 80 percent of its sales from the Taiwanese market. In the first five months of this year, cumulative sales grew by nearly 50 percent to NT$404 million (US$12.47 million), company data showed.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang plans new factory
Autoparts maker Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday said that it plans to build a new factory in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, during the second half of this year to expand its capacity of products, as its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and after-sales businesses continue growing in Taiwan, China and the US. The company plans to earmark about NT$10 billion in capital spending over the next three years, Tong Yang president and chief executive Crispin Wu (吳永祥) told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting. In the first five months of the year, the company posted pretax profit of NT$1.265 billion, up 132 percent from the same period last year, with earnings per share of NT$2.08, company data showed.
DISPLAY PANELS
Taiwan Display eyes growth
Taiwan Display Inc (台灣顯示器) plans to buy the remaining 20 percent interest in Star World Technology Corp (中日新), which assembles LCD modules used in handheld devices and consumer electronics, for about NT$428 million, the company said yesterday. Taiwan Display will pay NT$21.4 per share to acquire Star World’s common shares in circulation to make it a wholly owned subsidiary, Taiwan Display chairman Jeff Hsu (許庭禎) said. The company expects to close the deal on Nov. 15.
ELECTRONICS
IPhone 7 assemblers ready
Credit Suisse Group AG yesterday said three major iPhone assemblers are preparing for the launch of Apple Inc’s iPhone 7 in September, following its recent conversation with several Apple supply-chain firms. In a note issued yesterday, Credit Suisse analyst Thompson Wu (武光明) said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Wistron Corp (緯創) are to assemble the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus with an order split of 75 to 25 percent, while Hon Hai and Pegatron Corp (和碩) are to assemble the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 with an order split of 65 to 35 percent. As Wistron becomes a new entrant to the iPhone supply chain, the yield issue for Wistron will be a key concern in mass production, Wu said.
SHIPPING
Evergreen gets extension
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) has gained approval to extend its lease of the Colon Container Terminal (CCT) in Panama for another 20 years, the company said in a statement. The 20-year lease extension, approved by Panama’s Cabinet on Wednesday, comes days before the inauguration of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday next week. The Colon facility can accommodate large vessels with a capacity of 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), Evergreen Marine said, adding that its total annual capacity at the Colon port will increase from 1.5 million to 2.4 million following the addition of several new wharfs.
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