MANUFACTURING
Sector registers ‘yellow-blue’
The local manufacturing sector was “yellow-blue” in April for the second consecutive month, while the index that gauges the climate of the sector dropped from the previous month, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday. The institute uses a five-color system to indicate domestic economic activity, with “yellow-blue” suggesting sluggish growth. The institute said that the composite index for the local manufacturing sector fell 0.33 points in April from a month earlier to 10.58 and remained “yellow-blue,” or between 10.5 and 13 points. The fall indicated that growth decelerated for export orders, industrial production and bilateral trade, TIER said.
HOUSING
Transaction activity rises
Housing transactions in the six major municipalities — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung — increased by between 5 percent and 23 percent last month from the previous month, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday, citing data compiled by local-government agencies. Transactions in Kaohsiung increased by 23 percent from April, outperforming the other special municipalities, the report said. Transactions in Taipei increased by 21 percent month-on-month and showed the second-highest growth among the six cities. Overall transactions in the municipalities were 17,600 units last month, an increase of 15.8 percent from April, the report said. The figure represented the highest level of the year due to favorable prices, but it remained 1 percent lower than a year earlier, it said.
BANKING
First Financial rated ‘neutral’
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) on Thursday gave a “neutral” outlook for state-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) due to a lack of clear earnings growth catalysts for its flagship banking unit this year. The unlikelihood of an interest-rate hike in the second half of this year has ruled out significant growth momentum for First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), as domestic loans make up 80 percent of the lender’s loan book, Yuanta analyst Peggy Shih (施姵帆) wrote in a note to clients. In addition, the lender’s low proportion of foreign-currency-denominated loans would benefit little from the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, Shih said. First Financial has announced plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$1.2 per share, translating to a payout of 83 percent, up from 65 percent the previous year.
ELECTRONICS
Apple speaker expected
Apple Inc is preparing to launch a connected speaker to serve as a “smart” home assistant in a challenge to Amazon Echo and Google Home, a report said on Thursday. The speaker, powered by Apple’s digital assistant Siri, might be unveiled at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Silicon Valley, California, next week, Bloomberg News reported. The new device — speculation about which has been swirling for months — could entice software makers to tailor applications or services for a broader array of Apple hardware, the report said. Like Echo and Home devices gaining traction in the market, an Apple home assistant could let people control lights and appliances, and interact with the Internet using voice commands. Apple did not reply to a request for comment.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the