SEMICONDUCTORS
FTC approves Hermes sale
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday approved Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV’s acquisition of Hermes Microvision Inc (漢微科), saying the deal is unlikely to hurt competition. Hermes Microvision said it still expected the acquisition to be finalized by the end of the fourth quarter this year. Having received the nod from the commission, the deal now requires regulatory approval from the Investment Commission and authorities in the US, South Korea and Singapore.
MACROECONOMICS
M1B, M2 growth accelerates
The monthly growth rates of monetary aggregates M1B and M2 last month rose 0.68 percent and 0.54 percent respectively, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The annual growth rate of M1B, a narrow measure of the amount of money in circulation, last month rose 6.24 percent from the same period last year. The annual growth rate of the broader M2 monetary measurement — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — increased to 4.7 percent, mainly because of net foreign capital inflows and faster growth in foreign currency deposits, the central bank said. For the first seven months of the year, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 6.32 percent and 4.79 percent respectively, it said.
BANKING
Mortgage rates hit new low
The home mortgage rates of five major banks last month hit a new six-year low following four central bank interest rate cuts over the past year, according to data released by the government on Tuesday. The average interest rate for new housing loans offered by the five major lenders — Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) — last month fell to 1.695 percent, the lowest since August 2010, despite an increase of NT$1.28 billion (US$40.3 million) in housing loans from June, data showed.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Book-to-bill rises to 1.05%
The book-to-bill ratio for North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers increased from 1 in June to 1.05 last month, statistics released yesterday by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International showed. A ratio of 1.05 means that US$105 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of products billed in the month. It was the eighth consecutive month that the ratio stood at or above 1 percent, which implies a more optimistic outlook. “Monthly bookings and billings have reached US$1.7 billion on average over the past three months,” SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said in a statement. “The recent data indicate that strong investments in 3D NAND and in China will continue in the short term.”
MACROECONOMICS
DBS still bullish on growth
DBS Group Holdings Ltd yesterday said that weaker-than-expected economic data last month, such as export orders and industrial production, did not alter its view that Taiwan’s economy is growing, as seasonally adjusted monthly figures still indicated increases for both orders and production, while the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index is in expansionary territory. However, the momentum of growth recovery is undeniably weak and signs of recovery in the electronics sector are not very apparent, DBS said in a report. GDP is expected to grow 0.9 percent this year and 1.8 percent next year, it said.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks