SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC shares hit new high
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday hit a day high of NT$192.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, pushing its market cap to a record NT$4.99 trillion (US$157.8 billion). The world’s largest contract chipmaker recorded NT$96.76 billion in net profit last quarter, up 33.4 percent from the previous quarter and 28.4 percent from a year earlier on strong demand for communications, computer, consumer and industrial electronics. The company has expressed optimism about its operations in the fourth quarter, even though it is typically a slow season for global semiconductors. TSMC forecast consolidated sales of between NT$255 billion and NT$258 billion in the three-month period, down between 0.9 and 2 percent from the third quarter.
SEMICONDUCTORS
AP Memory buys Zentel
Chip designer AP Memory Technology Corp (愛普科技) yesterday said it has purchased a more than 50 percent stake, or 37.54 million shares, of Zentel Electronics Corp (力積電子), surpassing the required 35.49 million shares to acquire Zentel. AP Memory last month offered to purchase Zentel in a deal worth NT$985 million in cash to expand into the Internet of Things market. AP Memory supplies its new low-power memory chips to handset chip designers MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and China’s Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊) for mid-to-low-end smartphones. The company’s largest revenue source are pseudo static random access memorychips used in smartphones.
EQUITIES
TAIEX nears 9,400 points
The TAIEX closed up 0.68 percent to 9,385.65 points yesterday, boosted by gains in companies in the Apple Inc supply chain and other large-cap stocks, dealers said. Turnover stood at NT$64.299 billion. Buying in Apple-concept stocks surged on hopes that the latest iPhone 7 models would boost their shipments this quarter, dealers said. The TAIEX is expected to test the 9,500-point mark over the next month if international hot money continues to flow into Taiwan, dealers said.
INTERNET
Twitter mulls job cuts
Twitter Inc is planning widespread job cuts, to be announced as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter said. The firm might cut about 8 percent of its workforce, or about 300 people, the same percentage it did last year when cofounder Jack Dorsey took over as CEO. Planning for the cuts is still fluid and the number could change, they said. The people asked not to be identified talking about private company plans. An announcement about the job cuts might come before Twitter releases third-quarter earnings tomorrow, one of the people said. A Twitter representative declined to comment.
HANDSETS
BlackBerry unveils DTEK60
BlackBerry Ltd showed off the last smartphone it would market itself before completely outsourcing design, production and distribution to partners: a 5.5-inch touchscreen device that rivals the size of the iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel XL, but at a lower price. The DTEK60 is not exactly a full BlackBerry device. Like the DTEK50, which BlackBerry released in July, it was partly designed and manufactured by China’s TCL Corp and uses BlackBerry’s version of Google’s Android operating system. It is geared toward companies and government agencies that do not want their employees using personal devices for sensitive work business.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last