STOCK MARKETS
Taiwan shares close higher
Shares in Taiwan closed higher yesterday as foreign institutional investors continued to buy ahead of today, when Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Taiwan Index is to release its monthly returns. The TAIEX ended up 38.60 points, or 0.43 percent, at 9,063.39, after moving between 9,084.90 and 9,042.14. Turnover totaled NT$94.58 billion (US$2.95 billion) during the session. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$11.089 billion worth of shares, while local investment trust firms recorded a net buy of NT$100 million.
TELECOMS
Taiwan Mobile posts profit
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the nation’s second-largest telecom, yesterday said accumulated profit in the first six months achieved 56 percent of its annual projection thanks to contributions from its mobile business, and steady profit increases from its cable TV and retail business. The company reported NT$7.89 billion in net profit for the first half of the year, with earnings per share of NT$2.9 on revenue of NT$57.64 billion. Taiwan Mobile told an investors’ conference that the new 4G tariff plans unveiled by local telecoms would be positive for the overall industry and create a boost to carriers’ average revenue per user.
AIRLINES
CAL names board member
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) on Tuesday announced that former EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) president Austin Cheng (鄭傳義) has been given a seat on the carrier’s board of directors. He is one of two new board members, CAL said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Cheng, 57, had been working at the Evergreen Group (長榮集團) since 1984 and was appointed head of operations at the conglomerate’s airline unit in 1992. He resigned from EVA Air amid the conglomerate’s succession dispute earlier this year. Industry observers have said that Cheng’s appointment would help reform the state-run carrier, which has recently been rocked by a labor strike.
CHEMICALS
Everlight profit rises
Everlight Chemical Industrial Corp (永光化學), a local leading supplier of color chemicals and light stabilizers, yesterday reported pre-tax net profit of NT$362 million in the first half this year, up 11 percent from a year earlier. Pre-tax earnings per share came to NT$0.66 in the first six months, company data showed. However, pre-tax profit for last month dropped 47 percent to NT$0.26 million, due to fluctuations in the exchange rates of the yuan and yen, the company said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Nintendo logs huge loss
Video game giant Nintendo Co yesterday said it logged a huge loss for the April-to-June quarter, despite global hoopla over the launch of Pokemon Go, which came too late to boost figures. The company lost more than US$233 million on a stronger yen and lackluster sales. Nintendo warned last week that even the craze for the new app was unlikely to translate into bumper profits going forward. The company said unit sales of its Wii U game consoles more than halved from the same quarter last year, while a soaring yen helped erase profits. The reporting period for the three months through the end of last month was too early to include any rise from the launch earlier this month of the Pokemon Go mobile game.
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],”