STOCK MARKET
TAIEX takes a tumble
The market plunged more than 100 points to close below 10,900 points yesterday in the wake of an overnight decline on Wall Street, amid renewed concern over the eurozone caused by a political standoff in Italy. The market was also under pressure over fears of a looming trade war between the US and China. The TAIEX closed down 142.95 points, or 1.30 percent, at 10,821.17, with turnover of NT$160.73 billion (US$5.35 billion). According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$15.29 billion worth of shares on the main board.
MANUFACTURING
Walsin forecast improves
Capital Investment Management Corp (群益投顧) yesterday revised upward its earnings forecast for Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) to NT$30.05 from NT$26.37 per share this year, after the nation’s second-largest passive component supplier posted better-than-expected financial results for last month. Due to price hikes, Walsin reported earnings of NT$2.15 per share, up 551.25 percent year-on-year, while sales grew 87.44 percent to NT$3.13 billion. Walsin shares yesterday closed 1.64 percent higher at NT$372.5.
E-COMMERCE
PChomestore to go private
The Taipei Exchange yesterday said PChomestore Inc (商店街) would stop trading its shares on the over-the-counter board on June 22, after the company’s board decided earlier this month to take the e-commerce operator private. PChomestore, a subsidiary of PChome Online Inc (網路家庭), announced a NT$363 million privatization plan in a bid to pursue greater returns on investment. PChome and its partners plan to buy back PChomestore shares on the open market at NT$44 per share from June 22 to Aug. 10. PChomestore shares yesterday closed 0.12 percent higher at NT$43.05.
FOOD PROCESSING
Namchow ahead of schedule
Namchow Holding Co (南僑投資控股) is expected to see its total annual revenue reach NT$20 billion next year, one year ahead of schedule, chairman Alfred Chen (陳飛龍) told shareholders yesterday, adding that he is optimistic about the group’s business performance this year. The group plans to submit an application to the Chinese securities regulator next month or in July to launch an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Chen said.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CCIA spends on start-ups
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) yesterday said its CDIB Capital Innovation Accelerator (CCIA, 開發創新加速器), which facilitates the development of emerging companies in Taiwan, has invested in six start-ups since becoming operational a year ago. The start-ups include artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, mobile Internet and next-generation e-commerce businesses, CDIB Capital International Corp (中華開發資本) president Ho Chun-huei (何俊輝) said.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Hoffman opens in Taipei
The Hoffman Agency, a global public relations firm, yesterday announced the establishment of its Taipei office this month, making it the firm’s eighth office in Asia. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the firm said in a news release that it would focus on helping Taiwanese tech companies and start-ups enter international markets.
SECOND-RATE: Models distilled from US products do not perform the same as the original and undo measures that ensure the systems are neutral, the US’ cable said The US Department of State has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it said are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek (深度求索), to steal intellectual property from US AI labs, according to a diplomatic cable. The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about “concerns over adversaries’ extraction and distillation of US AI models.” Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more expensive ones to lower the costs of training a powerful new
Micron Technology Inc is a driving force pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would put new export restrictions on equipment its Chinese competitors use to make their chips, according to people familiar with the matter. A US House of Representatives panel yesterday was to vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close gaps in restrictions on chipmaking equipment. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking facilities to align with export curbs on US companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc. The bill targets facilities operated by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings’ planned acquisition of Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations has yet to enter the formal review stage, as regulators await supplementary documents, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday. Acting FTC Chairman Chen Chih-min (陳志民) told the legislature’s Economics Committee that although Grab submitted its application on March 27, the case has not been officially accepted because required materials remain incomplete. Once the filing is finalized, the FTC would launch a formal probe into the deal, focusing on issues such as cross-shareholding and potential restrictions on market competition, Chen told lawmakers. Grab last month announced that it would acquire
The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has triggered a seismic reshuffling of global equity markets, with Taiwan and South Korea muscling past European nations one by one. With its stock market now valued at nearly US$4.3 trillion, Taiwan surpassed the UK, Europe’s biggest market, earlier this month, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. South Korea is about US$140 billion away from doing the same. The tech-heavy Asian markets have shot past Germany and France in the past seven months. The shift is largely down to massive gains in shares of three companies that provide essential hardware for AI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電),
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