INTERNET
Telecom touts IoT services
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said it is working with Tata Communications Ltd to provide local manufacturers and enterprises with Internet of Things (IoT) services in more than 200 nations, leveraging Tata’s IoT network. The IoT services can help local firms connect with more than 600 mobile services providers worldwide, a joint statement said. Chunghwa Telecom is aiming to increase its number of IoT services users from 800 to 1,200 by the end of this year. Healthcare device maker TaiDoc Technology Corp (泰博科技) is among the first wave of users of the IoT services. TaiDoc collects a vast amount of data from its devices, which are sent wirelessly to an IoT management platform for analysis.
AUTOMAKERS
Hotai Motor to pay NT$12
Hotai Motor Co Ltd (和泰), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles, yesterday said its board has approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$12 per common share, representing a payout ratio of about 65 percent. The company made NT$10.12 billion (US$347.3 million) last year, down 5.77 percent from NT$10.74 billion in 2016. Earnings per share dropped to NT$18.52 from NT$19.66. However, revenue rose 5.05 percent year-on-year to NT$181.25 billion from NT$172.53 billion. The car distributor is scheduled to hold an annual shareholders’ meeting on June 21 to vote on the dividend proposal.
STOCK MARKET
Wall Street boosts TAIEX
The TAIEX yesterday closed higher following a strong performance on Wall Street overnight. The benchmark index closed up 146.74 points, or 1.35 percent, at 10,986.79 on turnover of NT$129.68 billion following news that the US plans to impose tariffs on US$60 billion worth of Chinese imports. All the major stock categories gained ground. In the electronics sector, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, rose 3.08 percent to close at NT$251, mainly due to the strong performance of its American depositary receipts overnight. Meanwhile, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) shares gained 1.11 percent to close at NT$91.2. Market analysts said that as concern over a potential trade war between China and the US is expected to ease, foreign capital began flowing back into the local market, pushing the main index higher. If the momentum continues, the market is expected to continue its upward trend in the short term, analysts said.
BANKING
Profits beat estimates
Two of China’s largest banks posted better-than-expected profit growth last year as a strengthening economy curbed soured loans and the government’s campaign to cut debt boosted their lending margins. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行) yesterday reported a 3 percent increase in net income last year, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (中國農業銀行) on Monday posted a 5 percent gain. Both lenders beat analysts’ estimates. China’s top five banks, which control more than a third of the nation’s US$40 trillion in banking assets, are staging a comeback thanks to improvements in borrowers’ repayment ability and higher demand for loans. They are also benefiting from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) crackdown on excessive debt, which is forcing smaller banks to turn to big lenders to borrow money. Both banks’ nonperforming loan ratios dropped for the first time since 2013 and senior executives said that they expect the trend to continue.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the