In a bid to lift the global visibility of Taiwanese equities, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan Exchange Group Inc (JPX) and the Korea Exchange (KRX) to strengthen business ties.
“The Taiwan Stock Exchange has long-term relationships with JPX and KRX,” TWSE chairman Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) said in a statement. “We are excited to extend the cooperation to a trilateral aspect. We look forward to collaborating to strengthen our connections, to increase our visibility in the Asia-Pacific and to provide top notch investment opportunities to investors.”
There are seven exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Taiwan’s main board that track equities in Japan. TAIEX Futures, which tracks the benchmark TAIEX, are traded on the Osaka Exchange.
Yuanta Securities Investment Trust Co (元大投信) has launched the Yuanta KOSPI 200 ETF to track the KOSPI 200 Index, which comprises 200 large-cap stocks on the KRX and is the benchmark index in Seoul’s market, while TAIEX ETFs are also traded in Seoul.
The memorandum followed MSCI Inc’s announcement that it is to include some large-cap China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI All Country World Index as of June.
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,