ELECTRONICS
PCB exports fall 9.9 percent
Printed circuit board (PCB) exports dropped 9.9 percent annually to US$49.93 billion last year, mainly dragged down by weakness in the smartphone and notebook computer industries in the first half of last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Increased production of PCBs in China also weighed on Taiwan’s export performance, the ministry said. China and Hong Kong are Taiwan’s largest export destination for PCBs, accounting for more than 50 percent of total PCB exports last year, ministry data showed.
BANKING
Yuan deposits drop
Yuan deposits at the nation’s banks last month totaled 310.95 billion yuan (US$45.28 million), down 0.15 percent from December last year, as firms trimmed holdings, but individual customers raised positions, the central bank said yesterday. The bank attributed the latest balance changes to asset allocations on the part of lenders to cope with currency fluctuations. Overall yuan deposits held relatively steady, it said.
SERVICES
Hotai offers 24-hour service
Hotai Leasing Corp (和運租車) yesterday launched a 24-hour service for car rentals, in a bid to make driving more convenient. Using the iRent app on smartphones, customers can make reservations, collect and return rental cars at different locations any time of day, Hotai Leasing said in a statement. The company said it hopes to develop a sharing economy like Taipei’s public bike rental service YouBike.
STOCKS
TAIEX hits 21-month high
The TAIEX yesterday hit a 21-month high, closing just short of 9,800 points in a liquidity-driven session, with market sentiment boosted by a stronger New Taiwan dollar after major US indices hit record highs overnight, dealers said. Buying in the electronics, steel and shipping sectors drove the gains, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電). The TAIEX closed up 0.83 percent at 9,799.76, on turnover of NT$115.36 billion (US$3.75 billion). The market opened up 5.35 points and quickly passed 9,800 points in reaction to the record-highs recorded by the NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 on Tuesday and an uptick in the local currency. US stocks notched a fourth straight record close on Tuesday, with a rally led by bank stocks after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that the US central bank would gradually raise interest rates sooner rather than later.
SINGAPORE
Curbs to remain on stability
Residential property curbs are set to stay in place for at least another year amid signs the city-state’s housing market is stabilizing, the head of Southeast Asia’s biggest developer said yesterday. “We see volume picking up and the price declines have slowed,” CapitaLand Ltd CEO Lim Ming Yan said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We see this trend continuing for 2017. There is no compelling reason for the government at this point to make major changes,” to property curbs. Lim was speaking after the Singapore-based developer said net income climbed 74 percent to S$430.5 million (US$301.9 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31 last year. CapitaLand’s Singapore home sales more than doubled to 571 units during the year and sales in China rose 14 percent.
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],”