STOCKS
TAIEX gains on late trading
Shares closed moderately higher in Taipei yesterday as late-session buying helped the broader market recover from its doldrums caused by investors locking in profits from earlier in the session, dealers said. The main board closed at a new 28-year record, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued its upward momentum amid optimism over the chipmaker’s operations for this year, they said. The TAIEX closed up 21.65 points, or 0.19 percent, at 11,253.11, after moving between 11,201.52 and 11,270.18, on turnover of NT$157.59 billion (US$5.36 billion). Yesterday’s closing level was the highest since March 21, 1990, when the TAIEX ended at 11,257.23 points.
EMPLOYMENT
Catcher to hold job fairs
Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), a metal casing supplier of Apple Inc’s iPhones and MacBooks, yesterday said it plans to hire more than 100 people in research and development (R&D), engineering and strategy planning in Taiwan to support its newly operational plant in Tainan. This is also a part of Catcher’s efforts to meet the rising demand from clients, the company said in a news release. Catcher is to host a series of recruitment events, such as seminars and workshops, in universities nationwide from this month, it said. The first event will take place on Saturday at the Tainan plant, Catcher said.
MANUFACTURING
GMTC picks chairman, board
Gloria Material Technology Corp (GMTC, 榮剛), the nation’s largest specialty alloys manufacturer, yesterday elected a new board of directors and chairman after an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting ousted former chairman Chen Hsing-shih (陳興時), putting an end to a high-profile boardroom dispute. Vice chairman Wang Chiung-fen (王炯棻), a lawyer, won the chairmanship, a victory for Taiwan Steel Group (台灣鋼鐵集團) in the proxy fight. The meeting drew a 90.89 percent attendance rate. The new board also elected a new management team and appointed Hsu Tse-dong (許澤東) as company president, company filings showed.
BANKING
FET, Taishin working on card
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (FET, 遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecom, yesterday said that it is collaborating with Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) on a new credit card for clients to use to pay for their online purchases. The credit card will also double as a mobile ticket on mass transportation systems within the next few months, FET said. It said it is confident that the new credit card would attract 200,000 subscribers by the end of this year.
BANKING
First Commercial Bank fined
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday fined First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), the biggest subsidiary of state-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), for its failure to fully disclose its exposure to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船). The commission said that the lender had neglected to disclose a NT$1.4 billion loan to an investment subsidiary of the shipbuilder, due to shortcomings in its internal control and auditing processes. First Commercial, which served as lead bank in a syndicated loan to Ching Fu Shipbuilding, was fined NT$10 million last month following the loan’s default.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day