CHIPMAKERS
TSMC shares close higher
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares moved 1.32 percent higher to close at NT$230 yesterday in line with the broader market, despite the company cutting its sales forecast for the first quarter due to a production mishap. On Friday last week, TSMC lowered its sales guidance for the first quarter to between US$7 billion and US$7.1 billion and cut its earnings per share projection by NT$0.42, after the chipmaker found that the impact of a production problem caused by substandard materials was larger than expected. Dayu International Securities Investment Consultant Co (大宇國際投顧) analyst Chang Chih-cheng (張志誠) said the rise in TSMC shares indicated that the impact was minor and the market’s expectations of a higher than NT$8 cash dividend.
ELECTRONICS
Sercomm to debut solutions
Sercomm Corp (中磊), a leading designer and manufacturer of smart connected devices and wireless equipment, yesterday announced that it would debut smart devices and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, from Monday to Thursday next week. The company’s new solutions focus on 5G access, virtualized small cell and mobile IoT devices, a news release said. The company also plans to discuss 5G and IoT collaborations with global telecoms, other equipment makers and system service providers at the annual event, it said.
TELECOMS
CHT to support probe
Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said the company would “fully support” a judicial investigation of alleged fake deals that involved dozens of its employees. The Chinese-language United Daily News reported that the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office had indicted 25 Chunghwa Telecom employees at its Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung, Keelung and Miaoli branches, as well as 24 suppliers and companies over 29 fake deals from 2014 to 2017 that involved NT$810.18 million (US$26.27 million) in questionable loans. CHT had reported losses of NT$430.39 million due to the deals as of Sept. 20 last year, the report said.
CONNECTEDNESS
Taiwan ranked 24th
Taiwan is the world’s 24th-most connected nation, according to the latest edition of the DHL Global Connectedness Index, a detailed analysis of globalization, measured by international flows of trade, capital, information and people. The index also ranked Taiwan 11th out of 169 nations and territories for trade connectivity. The world’s top five most globally connected nations in 2017 were the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, the report said. Eight of the top 10 most connected nations were located in Europe, it said.
RETAIL
Poya dividend proposed
Poya International Co Ltd (寶雅國際), which operates 204 outlets selling cosmetics, lingerie and stationery, yesterday said its board of directors had approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$15.75 per share this year. The company is scheduled to hold its annual general meeting on May 28 in Tainan, where shareholders are to vote on the dividend proposal, the company said in a regulatory filing. The proposal would represent a dividend yield of about 5.03 percent, compared with the company’s share price of NT$313 in Taipei trading yesterday.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day