AUTOMAKERS
Tainan supercharger opened
Electric automaker Tesla Inc yesterday launched its second supercharger station in the nation at Chimei Museum (奇美博物館) in Tainan. Compared with its usual charging stations, superchargers are set up in strategic locations and allow drivers to replenish batteries in minutes during long-distance road trips, Tesla said in a statement. The US company — which has more than 80 charging stations nationwide — said another supercharger is expected to begin operations in Taichung next week. Tesla said it is planning to install more destination charging stations at department stores and theme parks across the nation this year, but did not elaborate.
BANKING
King’s Town reports theft
King’s Town Bank (京城銀行), a medium-sized bank based in Tainan, yesterday said that it has alerted regulators and authorities that one of its financial planners has been misappropriating clients’ funds for as long as a decade, resulting in NT$26.5 million (US$870,079) in losses for about 20 clients. The Financial Supervisory Commission said that the lender could face penalties for lapses in internal controls. The theft was discovered on Thursday last week and a report to the commission was made the following day, the commission said. In most such cases, local banks have been ordered to reimburse theft-related losses, the commission said.
BANKING
Shangmao loan signed
Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企銀) yesterday signed a NT$1.05 billion syndicated loan with Kaohsiung-based Shangmao Enterprise Co (商茂企業) to allow the firm more financial leeway to carry out plans to help young people build careers. A new unit of E United Group (義聯集團), Shangmao is intended to join forces with I-Shou University to support career-building for students. With a focus on a “maker” culture and education, Shangmao said it would acquire up-to-date digital facilities and provide courses on patent applications, brand-building, sales channel establishment and business operations.
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Aurora registers capital plan
Office appliance sales agent Aurora Group (震旦行) has completed the registration process for new paid-in capital following a capital reduction scheme, part of the company’s efforts to boost efficiency. The company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that it has reduced capital by NT$1.01 billion, or 30 percent, to boost return on equity. Aurora’s paid-in capital was NT$2.36 billion yesterday, with a net value of NT$31.49 per share, compared with NT$22.04 at the end of first quarter, the company said. Shareholders are to receive NT$3 per share due to the capital reduction, it said.
REAL ESTATE
Association tips increase
Transactions of residential and commercial properties could reach 260,000 this year, the Chinese Association of Real Estate Brokers said yesterday, citing strong sales momentum in the first half. Total transactions in the six special municipalities reached 20,351 units last month, up 15.7 percent month-on-month and 19.1 percent year-on-year, the association said, citing government statistics. In the first half, total transactions in the six special municipalities were 99,000 units, up 20.7 percent from a year earlier, it said. Transactions are forecast to be 255,000 to 270,000 units for the whole of this year, a 4 percent to 10 percent increase from last year.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by