SEMICONDUCTORS
Demand tipped to improve
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), which makes silicon wafers, yesterday said demand for this quarter would be greater than seasonal norms, driven by rising demand for high-end smartphones. GlobalWafers said it plans to raise wafer prices in the first quarter next year to reflect the strong New Taiwan dollar and rising wafer costs. In the first three quarters of this year, the company saw its net profit contract by 30 percent to NT$1.11 billion (US$35.3 million), or earnings per share of NT$3, from NT1.58 billion, or NT$4.56 per share, during the same period a year earlier. The company also said that US regulators approved its acquisition of SunEdison Semiconductor Ltd for US$683 million.
CHIP DESIGNERS
Faraday income declines
Faraday Technology Corp (智原), a fabless chip design service and silicon patent provider, yesterday said net income last quarter plunged 50 percent from NT$125 million in the second quarter to NT$50 million. Earnings per share tumbled to NT$0.21 from NT$0.51 the previous quarter. Revenue declined 15 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$1.54 billion last quarter from NT$1.81 billion as demand weakened due to customer inventory corrections and seasonal factors, Faraday said. The company expects revenue to drop by a low-single-digit percentage this quarter as demand continues to dip. Gross margin will fall to between 40 and 43 percent this quarter, from 44.1 percent last quarter, the company said.
TRANSPORTATION
THSRC adds more services
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) yesterday said that it will operate more trains on weekends starting next month to meet high demand for weekend travel. Starting from Dec. 2, eight additional high-speed trains will be available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday — five southbound and three northbound, the company said. The new services will bring the total number of trains provided by THSRC to 960 per week, the company said, adding that bookings for the extra trains will be accepted from tomorrow.
COMPUTERS
Microsoft unveils Teams
Microsoft Inc on Wednesday unveiled its “Teams” tool for workplace collaboration, taking on rising star Slack in a hot market. Teams is built into Office 365, which includes popular applications such as Word and Excel as cloud-hosted services. Skype Internet voice and video calling service is also integrated into Teams. A preview version of Teams is available to businesses in 181 countries, with general availability expected early next year, Microsoft said.
SOUTH KOREA
Property rules to change
The government said it will take steps to ease overheating property markets in Seoul, Sejong, and some areas in Gyeonggi and Busan. Minister of Finance Yoo Il-ho said the government will limit resale of rights to buy new apartments and bolster bidding requirements for new apartments in the regions, while monitoring markets and designating anti-speculation property zones if needed. The government is to revise its rules shortly so that the changes can be applied, Yoo said. The measures came after the government in August released policies to curb household debt growth, requiring banks to impose stricter screening for some types of loans and also limiting the supply of land for housing.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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