EQUITIES
Little local movement
Local shares yesterday continued to move within a narrow range and closed little changed as the US maintained its tough line on its trade dispute with China. Caution continued to dominate the trading session before the US Federal Reserve’s two-day policymaking meeting concluded later in the day. The TAIEX ended down 4.66 points, or 0.04 percent, at 10,974.19 on turnover of NT$106.68 billion (US$3.48 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$726 million in shares, compared with a net buying of NT$4.73 billion on Tuesday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
ENTERTAINMENT
HIM shares tumble 10%
Shares of record label HIM International Music Inc (華研國際) dropped by the daily maximum of 10 percent yesterday after the company confirmed a day earlier that it might face changes in agency contracts with S.H.E. singers Selina Jen (任家萱) and Hebe Tien (田馥甄). The other S.H.E. singer, Ella Chen (陳嘉樺), transferred her contract to her husband, Alvin Lai (賴斯翔), after its expiration in September last year. HIM shares closed at the lowest level in nine months at NT$89 in Taipei trading. They have dropped 50 percent from their April high of NT$178.5, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
RATINGS
S&P upbeat on TSMC
S&P Global Ratings yesterday raised its long-term credit rating on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to “A+” from “AA-,” saying that the world’s largest contract chipmaker has strengthened its competitive position by widening its technological leadership. TSMC’s improvement in process technology relative to Intel Corp would help it further increase its access to high-performance computing markets, such as server central processing units, S&P said. TSMC might further extend its technology leadership if it increases production of 5-nanometer process technology in the first half of 2020, the agency said.
LEASING
Strong profits for Chailease
Chailease Holding Co (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, on Tuesday posted NT$8.91 billion in net income for the first eight months of the year, up 45 percent from the same period last year, with earnings per share of NT$6.91, the highest for the period in the company’s history. Chailease attributed the results to strong profit growth of 76 percent in its China operations, 32 percent profit growth in ASEAN markets and a 22 percent profit increase in Taiwan business. The firm said it has seen limited impact from escalating trade tensions between the US and China, as it focuses on domestic business in China.
STEELMAKERS
CSC surges on sales, prices
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, on Tuesday said that its pretax profit last month surged 116.3 percent annually to NT$3.16 billion, or NT$0.19 per share, on rising sales volume and higher steel prices. In the first eight months of the year, pretax profit totaled NT$20.19 billion, or NT$1.28 per share, the company said in a statement. Operating profit soared 135.24 percent to NT$3.53 billion annually last month, with cumulative operating profit in the first eight months growing 49 percent annually to NT$21.52 billion, the company said. Revenue climbed at a slower rate of 10.28 percent to NT$33.38 billion last month year-on-year and cumulative revenue increased 16 percent to NT$262.51 billion over the period, it said.
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
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”