Solar wafer supplier Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (SAS, 中美晶) yesterday saw its shares rally 9.82 percent in early trading amid speculation that it has become an acquisition target for a Chinese fund.
The stock retreated from earlier gains to close 6.78 percent up at NT$105.5, still setting a six-year record.
The Chinese-language United Daily News on Friday last week reported that China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as the “Big Fund,” intends to invest in SAS.
The fund would reportedly like to secure stable silicon wafer supply through such an investment, as SAS owns a 50.8 percent share in the world’s No. 3 semiconductor wafer supplier, GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the report said.
The report came as prices for semiconductor wafers have soared due to tight supply over the past year.
“We did not have information to that effect,” SAS spokesman Lee Chung-wei (李崇偉) said in a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. “It is speculation by media and industry analysts.”
GlobalWafers saw its net profit surge 49 percent to NT$3.06 billion (US$105 million), or NT$8.06 per share, in the first three quarters of last year, from NT$2.07 billion, or NT$3 a share, in the same period of 2016.
Separately, solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday posted a loss of NT$3.13 billion for last year, the fourth straight year of losses for the firm.
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