Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s biggest financial services provider by assets, yesterday reported that its net value increased by NT$35.8 billion (US$1.23 billion), or NT$2.6 per share, after the company reclassified its financial assets according to the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 guidelines.
The company’s net value would grow to about NT$45 per share or higher, compared with NT$42.5 as of the end of September last year.
The guidelines stipulate that companies must switch to recognizing and providing for expected credit losses on financial assets, rather than the current practice of providing them only when losses are incurred.
Under the guidelines, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the main arm of Cathay Financial, is to see net value expand by NT$32.6 billion and other subsidiaries of the group are to see a total increase of NT$3.2 billion, a company statement said.
DEAL LIKELY DEAD: As takeovers of semiconductor firms become national security issues amid a global microchip shortage, deals are becoming more difficult GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) failed to reach a breakthrough in a last-ditch bid to salvage its planned takeover of Siltronic AG, likely spelling the collapse of the US$5 billion deal. The Taiwanese technology company did not resolve the government’s concerns during a private meeting between GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) and German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action State Secretary Udo Philipp, people familiar with the matter said. Siltronic shares tumbled as much as 4.7 percent on the news on Friday, extending the stock’s decline for the year to more than 20 percent. While the ministry continues to examine the deal,
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Samsung Electronics Co is stepping up spending on advanced chipmaking technology as it sees growing demand for its smartphones, displays and memory products. South Korea’s largest company reported 43.6 trillion won (US$36.17 billion) in semiconductor capital expenditure last year, eclipsing rivals as it acquired extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines to pursue an aggressive expansion of its most lucrative memory and system chipmaking. It expects a recovery in server and PC memory demand, and said foldables are already helping its sales growth, although declined to offer a forecast due to the high degree of uncertainty around supply chains and the COVID-19 pandemic. Samsung
The data transmission speed of 6G (sixth-generation wireless) networks is expected to be 10 to 100 times faster than 5G technology, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) said in a paper released on Jan. 18. 6G standardization is expected to begin in 2024 or 2025, with the first standard technology expected in 2027 or 2028, said MediaTek, one of the world’s leading chip design companies. “Our 6G vision is of an adaptive, integrated and super heterogeneous wireless communication system, delivering pervasive mobile connectivity in a truly ubiquitous manner,” the paper said. The sector is making breakthroughs in the research and development (R&D) of key 6G technologies,