TREASURY
M1B gains 4.4 percent
The nation’s M1B, a measure of the money in circulation, last month grew 4.4 percent year-on-year, while M2 — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — advanced by 4.07 percent, the central bank reported on Thursday, citing faster growth in bank loans and investments and continued net foreign capital inflows. The average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 in the first 11 months were 4.71 percent and 3.76 percent, respectively. The annual growth rate of total outstanding loans and investments of all the nation’s financial institutions increased from 4.9 percent to 5.23 percent because of faster growth in bank claims in the private sector, the central bank said.
ELECTRONICS
Career to offer new shares
Flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) supplier Career Technology Co (嘉聯益) on Wednesday said its board has approved plans to raise capital by issuing 76.84 million new shares, increasing its capital by up to 23.7 percent. The company said it plans to use the proceeds to purchase manufacturing facilities and boost its capacity. Career denied it would be bringing in Chinese partners, including Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊). In the first 11 months of the year, Career’s cumulative revenue declined 6.98 percent year-on-year to NT$11.68 billion (US$389.7 million). In the first three quarters, the company reported net losses of NT$13.29 million, or NT$0.04 per share.
PAPER
Long Chen plans China trading
Industrial papermaker Long Chen Paper Co (榮成紙業) said an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday approved plans to apply for trading of its subsidiary’s A-shares denominated in yuan in China. Jiangsu Longchen Greentech Co Ltd (江蘇榮成環保科技), 97.7 percent of which is held by Long Chen, plans to debut its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and would use the public offering to raise up to 3 billion yuan (US$456 million) to expand its business in China to increase its presence.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Crown Bioscience in merger
Crown Bioscience International Co (冠科) on Tuesday said that it plans to sign a merger agreement with Gallo Merger Sub Corp and JSR Corp. The company said it is to merge with Gallo Merger Sub first, with the latter to be dissolved after the merger. The company then plans to sell its shares to JSC at NT$75 each and become wholly owned by JSR. Crown Bioscience operates as a drug discovery and development solutions company. The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter next year, Crown Bioscience said, adding that it would then delist from the local over-the-counter market.
TEXTILEs
DOC rules on dumping
The US Department of Commerce (DOC) on Tuesday issued a preliminary ruling determining that Taiwanese makers of certain polyester fiber items sold their products at unfairly low prices in the US market. Along with China, India and South Korea, Taiwan was found in a DOC affirmative preliminary ruling to have violated US rules by dumping fine denier polyester staple fiber after an investigation was launched earlier this year. Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀) has been assigned a preliminary dumping rate of 48.86 percent, while 24.43 percent for all other producers and exporters from Taiwan. A final decision from the DOC and the US trade commission is expected in March and April next year, respectively.
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],”