ENTERTAINMENT
M17 to make NYSE debut
M17 Entertainment Ltd (M17娛樂集團), the parent company of live music streaming platform 17 Media, is scheduled to make its US debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday next week. The Taipei-based company aims to raise US$95 million by offering 7.51 million American depositary receipts at US$10 to US$12, according to the terms of its initial public offering. M17 Entertainment, founded by Jeffrey Huang (黃立成), provides live music streaming and dating app services, mainly in Asia.
ELECTRONICS
Team Group revenue to rise
Team Group Inc (十銓科技), a supplier of memory modules and electronics, yesterday said revenue for this year could rise up to 40 percent from last year, driven by demand for embedded-related, gaming and industrial control products. The Taipei-based company said it plans to in September apply with the Taiwan Stock Exchange for an initial public offering before making a local debut by the end of this year. It reported net profit of NT$242 million (US$8.1 million) for last year, up 84 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$4.79.
MANUFACTURING
Sentiment up in April: TIER
Sentiment regarding the local manufacturing sector improved in April as exports grew at a double-digit percentage from a year ago, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said in a report yesterday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector rose 1.25 from a month earlier to 11.7, ending two straight months of declines, the institute said. The general business climate, pricing and demand — three of the five factors that make up the composite index for the sector — moved higher, the institute said.
PETROLEUM
CPC to increase LNG prices
State-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it has decided to increase prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) products this month, while keeping the prices for liquefied petroleum gas products unchanged. From today, average prices for LNG products are to increase by NT$0.31 per cubic meter, or 2.99 percent, from last month, CPC said. As a result, an average LNG consumption of between 30m3 and 45m3 per month would mean increased costs of between NT$9.3 and NT$13.95 per household, it said.
MOBILE
Ichia revenue falls 6 percent
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday reported revenue of NT$637 million for last month, down 6 percent from a year earlier and 10 percent from April, as orders from clients began to pick up steam. Last month’s revenue included about NT$509 million in sales of flexible printed circuit integrated components and about NT$130 million from mechanical integrated components, Ichia said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
FINANCE
Assets of OBUs drop 2.3%
The 60 offshore banking units (OBUs) of financial institutions operating in Taiwan had assets totaling US$203.92 billion as of the end of April, down US$4.746 billion, or 2.3 percent, from March, the central bank said on Thursday. The OBUs of 37 local banks held US$181.128 billion in assets, while foreign banks’ 23 OBUs held US$22.792 billion, it said. At the end of April, the primary uses of all OBUs’ funds were discounts and loans, amounting to US$80.678 billion, or 39.6 percent of total assets, it added.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS