EQUITIES
Dog year ends with a loss
Taiwanese shares closed 0.67 points higher to end at 9,932.26 yesterday, the last trading session in the Year of the Dog. However, the TAIEX fell 488.83 points, or 4.69 percent, which translates into an average loss of NT$125,000 (NT$4,062) per retail investor, in the Year of the Dog. Turnover totaled NT$99.102 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Analysts said the TAIEX is likely to encounter more pressure at about 10,300 to 10,500 points. There is little chance the index would pass 10,500 points after the market reopens on Feb. 11, with a low of about 9,400 expected if the global stock market retrenches, they said.
DISPLAYS
HannStar confirms layoffs
LCD panel maker HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) yesterday confirmed that it had laid off 80 people, but said it has been adjusting its workforce on a regular basis to enhance operational efficiency. It said that it would hire 20 new workers after the Lunar New Year holiday. HannStar reported consolidated revenue of NT$741 billion for last month, down 33.6 percent month-on-month and 57.8 percent year-on-year. Shipments of small and medium-sized panels dropped 54 percent from November to 24.25 million units, while those of large panels decreased 10.3 percent to 98,000 units, the company said.
RESTAURANTS
TTFB launches new brand
Restaurant operator Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團) yesterday launched a new cuisine brand, Yabi Kitchen, at Breeze Nanshan Plaza (微風南山) in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義). The new brand joins TTFB’s six restaurant chains, which generated NT$4.3 billion in sales from 127 stores last year, up 4.72 percent from 2017. The company said it plans to open between 25 and 30 new stores this year, compared with 19 stores last year. In addition to Taiwan and China, TTFB is hoping to expand its footprint in the US market, with southern California likely its first choice.
LEISURE
Brogent opens iRide theater
Brogent Technologies Inc (智崴資訊), a manufacturer of theme park rides and flying theaters, yesterday opened its i-Ride flying theater in Taipei. The company said it had invested more than NT$200 million in hardware and software for the theater, which it expects to attract 300,000 visitors annually. Brogent said it has launched 30 flying theaters worldwide, attracting more than 12 million visitors. With new projects under way in China, the US, Europe and the Middle East, the company expects to have 38 or 39 flying theaters by the end of this year, with visitor numbers reaching between 13 million and 14 million, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Powertech Q4 profit drops
Memorychip tester and packager Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) yesterday said that net profit for the fourth quarter of last year fell 28.5 percent quarterly and 17.7 percent annually to NT$1.36 billion, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.75. Quarterly sales, gross margin and operating margin all came in weaker than expected at NT$16.64 billion, 18.2 percent and 12.1 percent respectively, due to a lower capacity utilization rate, the company said. However, for last year as a whole, net profit reached NT$6.23 billion, the highest in eight years, with EPS of NT$8.02, company data showed.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the