INSURANCE
Farglory affected by Dome
Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽), an affiliate of Farglory Group (遠雄集團), has been affected by the troubled undertaking by its parent to build the Taipei Dome, the Financial Supervisory Commission told lawmakers during a question-and-answer session at the legislature in Taipei. The life insurer arm of the conglomerate has invested about NT$2.05 billion (US$67.94 million), but the project shows a book value of NT$1.88 billion, leading to a “relatively small” loss for the carrier, the commission said. The life insurer also owns a 7.29 percent stake in Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設), translating to an additional exposure of about NT$1.71 billion, the commission said.
BANKING
Taishin opens in Brisbane
Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) yesterday said it has opened a new branch in Brisbane, Australia. The branch is the lender’s fourth overseas operation. Other Taiwanese lenders have set up 11 branches and a representative office in Australia. Taishin generated 15 percent of its profits from overseas as of the end of last quarter. The lender is hoping to see its Brisbane branch break even before the end of the year and raise overall overseas earnings contribution to 30 percent, it said. The bank said it is hoping to tap into opportunities presented by the agricultural sector in Queensland while meeting the nation’s stringent compliance standards.
AUTOMAKERS
Pan German mulls debut
Pan German Universal Motors Ltd (汎德永業), which sells BMW and Porsche cars in the domestic market, yesterday said it plans to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Dec. 19 to discuss a proposal to make its debut on the Taipei Exchange. The firm, which earlier this year raised money by issuing 2.09 million new shares, has paid-in capital of NT$717.41 million. The firm posted sales of NT$25.66 billion for the first three quarters of this year, representing a 1.82 percent annual increase, company data showed.
TECHNOLOGY
Ichia revenue jumps 34.35%
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$674.19 million for last month, up 34.35 percent from NT$501.81 million a year earlier. Revenue contracted 2.56 percent from the prior month’s NT$691.92 million, Ichia’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. The monthly result brought the firm’s accumulative revenue to NT$5.92 billion in the first 10 months, surging 19.86 percent from the same period last year, according to the filing.
STOCK MARKET
Gains capped by realization
The TAIEX closed above 10,800 points yesterday, but the gains were limited as investors locked in their profits in select large-cap electronics stocks, such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), dealers said. Buying in the non-high-tech sector lent some support to the broader market, preventing the weighted index from falling into negative territory, dealers said. Despite the upturn, sentiment remained cautious amid anxiety among investors over US President Donald Trump’s impending selection of a US Federal Reserve chair, as his choice could affect fund flows in global financial markets, leading to reluctance to chase prices, dealers said. The weighted index closed up 12.56 points, or 0.12 percent, at 10,806.36. Turnover totaled NT$126.97 billion.
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