STOCK MARKET
NSF owns NT$5.49bn
The state-run National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金), which in April said it would exit the stock market, owned NT$5.49 billion (US$1780.6 million) in shares as of the end of last month, compared with NT$18.7 billion as of the end of March, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday in a statement. In the April-to-June quarter, the fund had booked gains valued at NT$1.15 billion with unrealized gains of NT$69.42 million, the ministry said. The ministry said the fund is on track to exit the stock market, despite the UK’s vote to leave the EU on June 23.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Foundry capacity to grow 5%
Global foundry capacity is expected to grow 5 percent annually to reach 6 million wafers per month next year, boosted mainly by Taiwan and China, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said yesterday. Taiwan will have the largest foundry capacity in the world, accounting for more than 55 percent of 12-inch foundry capacity, thanks to capacity expansion from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), SEMI said in a news release. China is to grab a 20 percent share of global foundry market next year, given a rapid capacity expansion primarily from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯), SEMI said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC denies China listing
TSMC yesterday denied reports it was considering going public on China’s stock market. TSMC made the remark after Chinese-language Commercial Times reported the possibility in a front-page story, which cited a Chinese official on Tuesday as saying that Taiwan-based high-tech firms were being encouraged to list on the Chinese market.
ELECTRONICS
Flytech earns NT$1.42bn
Flytech Technology Co (飛捷科技), a leading point-of-sale (POS) system manufacturer, on Monday reported record-high revenue of NT$1.42 billion in the second quarter, thanks in part to contribution of NT$76 million from its newly acquired Box Technologies Ltd last month. Flytech, which also produces medical panel PCs, said the UK subsidiary would help it to expand its presence in the UK and Europe and expects its total revenue in the second half to be higher than the first half’s NT$2.76 billion.
MACROECONOMY
Central bank auctions CDs
The central bank yesterday said it had auctioned NT$30 billion in two-year certificates of deposit (CDs) at an average interest rate of 0.413 percent, marking the lowest level in the bank’s history, as the market remained awash in liquidity. The latest CD sale came after the bank last month cut its benchmark interest rates by 12.5 basis points. Coupled with the bank’s recent sale in 364-day CDs to absorb excess funds from the banking system, the bank has sold NT$2.44 trillion of the notes, which would have the same effect as hiking the required reserve ratio by raising interest rates by nearly 7.5 percentage points.
STEEL
Chinese exports near record
China’s steel exports climbed to the second-highest level on record last month, as shipments ramp up amid escalating trade tensions. Sales advanced 23 percent from a year earlier to 10.94 million tonnes, China’s General Administration of Customs said. Exports in the first six months were 57.12 million tonnes, the seventh on-year increase in a row and the most ever for the period.
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
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],”