STOCK MARKET
TAIEX lower on MSCI review
The latest quarterly index review by MSCI Inc, which cut Taiwan’s weighting on two of its indices, prompted investors to shift to the sell side before the adjustments took effect after the market closed yesterday, dealers said. The TAIEX closed down 21.23 points, or 0.2 percent, at the day’s low of 10,815.47 as investors also locked in gains built earlier in the session after the main board breached 10,900 points and approached the critical 11,000-point level, dealers added. Turnover on the main bourse totaled NT$135.67 billion (US$4.64 billion) yesterday, compared with NT$120.08 billion on Monday.
PROPERTY
Sinyi makes ethical list
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) has been designated one of the world’s most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute, making it the first Taiwanese company to receive the honor. The Ethisphere Institute, a US-based organization that defines and measures corporate ethical standards, included Sinyi among the 135 companies in its 12th annual list of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies,” which was published on Feb. 12. Sinyi Realty spokesman Howard Chou (周莊雲) said “trust and loyalty” have always been the company’s main values and have guided its daily operations for many years.
CERAMICS
Cash dividend announced
Advanced Ceramic X Corp (璟德電子), a manufacturer of high-frequency components and modules, on Monday announced it is to distribute a cash dividend of NT$10.9 per share after the company reported earnings per share of NT$12.15 for last year. The distribution represents a payout ratio of 89.71 percent. The company’s net profit increased 4 percent year-on-year to NT$839 million last year on revenue of NT$1.96 billion and gross margin of 62.95 percent. The company’s annual earnings for last year exceeded its paid-in capital for the third consecutive year.
FITNESS
Dyaco facing financial loss
Fitness equipment supplier Dyaco International Inc (岱宇國際) on Monday announced that it is evaluating potential financial losses after one of its clients, New Level UK Ltd, entered administration. Dyaco said shipments to the British firm accounted for 1.5 percent of its total sales last year and as of Monday, New Level UK owed the company US$3.64 million in account receivables, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) yesterday said in a note that if the account receivables are not collected and must be written off, it would erode Dyaco’s earnings by NT$1.18 per share.
BANKING
CTBC five-year plan on track
Credit Suisse Group AG said the macroeconomic environment is highly supportive for CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) to execute its second five-year plan that aims to raise its banking unit’s overseas profit mix to 50 percent from last year’s 40 percent and grow its total life insurance assets to NT$2.5 trillion from NT$1.2 trillion. “The plan will further shape CTBC’s business mix from a domestic and consumer bank-focused conglomerate into three equally-split divisions of a domestic banking unit, an overseas banking unit and a life insurance business,” Credit Suisse said in a client note yesterday. Moreover, it would see the life insurance business contribute more than 50 percent of asset growth in the next five years, it added.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to