BANKING
M1B growth gains 1.62%
The monthly growth rates of monetary aggregates M1B and M2 last month rose 1.62 percent and 0.39 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 6.48 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 — slowed to 4.51 percent, mainly because of a decline in net foreign-capital inflows and slower growth in time deposits, the bank said.
BANKING
Mega Bank files for damages
Mega International Commercial Bank’s (兆豐銀行) board yesterday filed compensation claims against the bank’s former chairman Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才) and former bank president Wu Hann-ching (吳漢卿) for damages caused by a compliance failure at the bank’s New York branch. The state-run bank said it plans to seek compensation of NT$5.71 billion (US$182 million) from the two and has asked lawyers to seek NT$1 billion in provisional seizure of their assets. The Financial Supervisory Commission last week fined the bank NT$10 million, among other punitive measures, for poor corporate governance and internal controls that led to a US$180 million fine by US regulators last month for breaches of the US’ Bank Secrecy Act.
ACQUISITIONS
XPEC offices raided
Prosecutors and inspectors yesterday raided offices of XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技) and Bai Chi Gan Tou Digital Entertainment Co (百尺竿頭數位娛樂), as well as the residences of XPEC chairman Aaron Hsu (許金龍) and several others across the nation, as the judicial authorities probe possible financial irregularities in relation to Bai Chi’s failed acquisition of a 25.17 percent stake in XPEC last month. Prosecutors also summoned about 50 people for questioning, including Hsu and XPEC’s three independent board members, in order to gather more information about the botched deal and possible violations of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Criminal Code (刑法).
FINANCE
Chailease income growing
Chailease Holding Co Ltd (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, yesterday said that its net income last month increased 3 percent year-on-year to NT$620 million, bringing its aggregate net income for the January-to-August period to NT$4.81 billion, an expansion of 5 percent from the same period last year. The company reiterated a promising outlook in the remaining months of the year, driven by more commercial aircraft leasing in Taiwan and expectations of seasonal financing needs in China, as well as new business from its subsidiaries in Southeast Asia.
AUTOPARTS
Macauto expecting growth
Macauto Industrial Co (皇田), which has a 15 percent global share of the automotive sunshade market, might see significant contribution from its Mexican plant next year, in addition to persistent growth of the Chinese market, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said in a note yesterday. Macauto’s plant in Mexico, which has started a trial production this quarter, helps meet clients’ demand to export to the North American market. The company’s planned new plant with expanded capacity could become its “major growth driver” next year, Capital said. Macauto reported total sales of NT$2.85 billion in the first eight months this year, up 20.8 percent year-on-year.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to