FINANCE
Credit card numbers rise
As of the end of January, the number of credit cards in circulation in Taiwan reached 41.87 million, up by 140,000 from the end of December, with 28.17 million effective cards, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday. Credit card spending in January increased NT$18.1 billion (US$619.2 million) from the previous month to NT$248.3 billion, thanks to consumer shopping ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and financial institutions’ promotion of e-payment services, the FSC said. The balance of revolving credit stood at NT$112.2 billion in January and the amount of undue balance of installment was NT$110 billion, up NT$1.1 billion and NT$2.4 billion from December respectively, it said.
CHEMICALS
Swancor proposes dividends
Materials manufacturer and wind farm developer Swancor Holding Co Ltd (上緯投控) yesterday said its board passed a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2 per share. If approved at the annual general meeting, that would represent a payout ratio of 81.3 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$2.46. The Nantou County-based company posted NT$219 million in net profit last year, surging 323.56 percent year-on-year, while revenue grew 191.1 percent to NT$4.91 billion. However, gross margin declined 3.14 percentage points to 21.2 percent and operating margin dropped 7.56 percentage points to 4.43 percent, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Chang Wah has record profit
Chang Wah Technology Co Ltd (長華科技), which supplies pre-mold metal lead frames and other LED-related products, yesterday reported strong financial results, citing an operational synergy following its acquisition of SH Asia Pacific Pte of Singapore. The company posted a record net profit of NT$431 million for last year, up more than 8.5 times from 2016, or earnings per share of NT$14.62. Revenue totaled NT$672.19 billion last year, compared with NT$45.62 billion a year ago. The firm’s board passed a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$11.5 per share, equivalent to a payout ratio of 78.66 percent.
ENERGY
FPCC, Nikkiso team up
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化), the nation’s only listed oil refiner, is teaming up with Tokyo-listed Nikkiso Co Ltd to develop ultraviolet LED products that can sterilize containers and air purifiers, it said in a statement issued on Thursday. The company’s board has approved a plan to invest about ¥3.6 billion (US$33.82 million) to establish a subsidiary responsible for its UV LED business, the company said, without providing a timetable. Formosa Petrochemical said the board also agreed to issue corporate bonds of no more than NT$6 billion and would use the proceeds to replenish its operating capital.
INSURANCE
AI helping claims: Fubon
Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) on Thursday said that its investment in automation and artificial intelligence has begun to bear fruit,with significantly faster claims assessment and processing for health and personal accident insurance policies. The insurer said its processing time was cut by between three and seven days, with some customers receiving their payment on the same day they filed. The insurer has set a goal to raise the proportion of machine-processed claims from 60 percent to 80 percent, it said. However, high-risk claims are flagged by the system to be processed by experienced staff to prevent fraud, it 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,
BOOMING ORDERS: As orders move away from neighboring countries such as India, Pakistan’s economic bright spot has found new customers in South America and Africa Pakistan’s textile sector is bringing cheer to its flailing economy, with exports set to swell to a record after gaining an edge over South Asian rivals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Textile exports are poised to surge 40 percent from a year earlier to a record US$21 billion in the 12 months ending in June, said Abdul Razak Dawood, commerce adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister. Dawood said that the figure would expand to US$26 billion in the next fiscal year, surpassing the nation’s total exports last year, he said. The textiles industry — which supplies everything from denim jeans to towels for buyers
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,