ECONOMY
Money supply increases
The nation’s money supply increased last month, but the narrow gauge M1B — cash and cash equivalents — slowed to its lowest level in four years at 4.57 percent as people cut cash positions in favor of time deposits and insurance policies, the central bank said yesterday. The bank shrugged off concerns of a downturn in equity investment interest, saying the local bourse has benefited from continued foreign fund inflows. Foreign fund inflows totaled US$9.28 billion last quarter, higher than the US$6.55 billion recorded a year earlier, the bank said. The broad money gauge M2 — which includes foreign currency deposits, time deposits and M1B — advanced at 3.64 percent, slower than M1B, lending support to liquidity mobility, the bank said.
CEMENT MAKERS
Chia Hsin to sell TCCI stake
Chia Hsin Cement Corp (嘉泥) yesterday said its board has approved a plan to sell its stake in TCC International Holdings Ltd (TCCI, 台泥國際集團), a joint venture between the company and Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), to support TCCI’s privatization. The plan came as Taiwan Cement announced its proposal to privatize TCCI and delist its shares from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Taiwan Cement is the largest stakeholder in TCCI, owning a 63.05 percent stake, while Chia Hsin has a 9.7 percent stake, company data showed. Chia Hsin shareholders are to receive 0.42 Taiwan Cement shares for each TCCI common share, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
E-COMMERCE
Amazon opens Taiwan office
Amazon.com Inc yesterday launched its Taiwan office to help local companies explore opportunities in the global business-to-business market. The office is tasked with connecting Taiwanese businesses to Amazon’s 300 million active customers and 40,000 institutional clients worldwide, Amazon Global Selling Asia head Cindy Tai (戴竫斐) said yesterday. The US giant’s electronic commerce and logistics services are well suited to helping Taiwan’s export-oriented companies tap into the global market without setting up costly distribution deals, Tai said.
CHIPMAKERS
Novatek cuts its dividend
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), which supplies chips that control flat-panel displays, yesterday announced a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$7 per share, lower than the NT$9 per share the company paid last year. That translates into a dividend yield of 6.31 percent when compared with the stock’s closing price of NT$111 yesterday. Last year, Novatek made NT$5 billion (US$165.2 million) in net profit, or earnings per share of NT$8.22, down from NT$6.4 billion, or earnings per share of NT$10.52, the previous year.
AIRLINES
TransAsia agrees sale
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), which ended operations on Nov. 22 last year because of insurmountable financial woes, has reached an agreement for a buyer to conditionally acquire 11 of its aircraft for US$364 million, the airline said. However, the highest bidder for the 11-plane package consented to TransAsia selling any of the 11 airplanes to the second-highest bidder because the deal could take a long time to complete, the airline said in a statement released on Sunday. Based on that condition, TransAsia has decided to sell four A330s and A321s to the second-highest bidder, with whom it would sign a contract today, the statement said.
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