CONSUMPTION
CPI spikes, but inflation low
Despite a spike in the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) last month, inflation has not risen, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said yesterday. In a finance committee hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Chu said a year-on-year jump of 2.19 percent was seasonal, as the Lunar New Year holiday fell during that month. Payments to babysitters rose 8.93 percent from a year earlier, while education and entertainment expenses grew 1.81 percent, DGBAS data showed. However, after seasonal adjustments, Taiwan’s consumer price growth remained in check, he said, adding that in the first two months, the CPI grew 1.54 percent, within the government’s target range of 2 percent.
MANUFACTURING
Cryomax to debut on TWSE
Cryomax Cooling System Corp (吉茂精密), which primarily makes copper radiators, yesterday announced plans to make its debut on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) in the middle of next month. The company, whose shares dropped 1.09 percent to NT$23.59 yesterday on the over-the-counter Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Market, was founded in 1984 with paid-in capital of NT$600.42 million (US$20.5 million). Cryomax’s major shareholders include Japan-based Denso Corp, a tier-one supplier in the global automotive industry.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Canadian festival planned
Caesar Park Banciao (板橋凱薩飯店), the flagship property of Caesar Park Hotels and Resorts (凱撒飯店連鎖), is to team up with the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, the Canadian Meat Association and Air Canada to launch a Canadian food festival on Tuesday next week that is to run until April 15. The month-long event is intended to promote Canada’s cuisine and tourist attractions. Chef Quentin Glabus, who formerly worked at the Canadian embassies in Japan and Beijing, is to demonstrate how he prepares a variety of ingredients and dishes. Guests can join a draw to win round-trip airline tickets to Canada.
TELECOMS
Chunghwa profit up 1.6%
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday posted NT$2.98 billion net profit for last month, matching the company’s financial forecast, the company said in a statement. That translated into earnings per share of NT$0.38. Revenue totaled NT$17.95 billion. The figures were based on the new IFRS 15 accounting rules. Excluding the accounting rules’ effects, net profit last month rose year-on-year to NT$3.12 billion, or NT$0.4 per share. Revenue increased 1.6 percent year-on-year to NT$18.06 billion last month. As of last month, subscribers of Chunghwa’s Multimedia on Demand service increased to 1.67 million. Mobile subscribers climbed to 8.4 million, helping to boost the company’s value-added-service ratio to 59.8 percent last month.
ELECTRONICS
TPK agrees NT$3 dividend
Touch panel maker TPK Holding Co Ltd (宸鴻) yesterday said its board of directors has approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$3 per common share, representing a payout ratio of about 45 percent. The company last year swung back to the black with a net profit of NT$2.4 billion, or earnings per share of NT$6.63. The cash dividend distribution is subject to shareholder approval during the annual meeting scheduled for May 29.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure