AIRLINES
CAL sells, leases five jets
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said it sold five Airbus SE A330-300 jets to Irish leasing company Altitude Aircraft Cal I Ltd for between US$30 million and US$33 million each and immediately leased them back to maintain its capacity. CAL reported a loss of about NT$90 million (US$2.9 million) from the transaction, as the disposal gain of US$156 million was less than the five jets’ asset value of NT$4.942 billion. CAL said the number of its passenger airplanes remains at 70.
SOLAR INDUSTRY
TSE raises NT$455 million
TSE Corp (元晶), which makes solar modules and helps clients install solar panels, has raised NT$455 million via a rights issue, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The company plans to use the proceeds to repay bank loans. Shareholders subscribed to the newly issued 65 million common shares at NT$7 per share, the filing said. The price represented a 12.5 percent discount to the stock’s closing price of NT$8 in Taipei trading yesterday.
TECHNOLOGY
Asustek, institute sign deal
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to collaborate on various digital applications, such as cloud-based storage, an artificial intelligence (AI) development platform and Internet of Things technologies. Asustek last year worked with the National Applied Research Laboratories in the development of the supercomputer Taiwania. The company aims to expand the supercomputer’s AI and big data capabilities by the end of this year.
MACROECONOMICS
Wages post stable growth
The average regular wage rose 2.42 percent from a year earlier to NT$41,927 in July after a 2.33 percent year-on-year increase in June, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics reported on Wednesday. The average earned income, which includes regular salary plus bonuses, overtime pay and other irregular income, also rose 2.53 percent to NT$53,017, the agency said. In the first seven months of the year, the average regular wage climbed 2.32 percent to NT$41,702, while the average earned income grew 1.81 percent to NT$56,360, it said.
ENERGY
Orsted to sell green bonds
Danish energy developer Orsted A/S on Wednesday said that it is planning to issue New Taiwan dollar-denominated green bonds on the local market by the end of the year. The company said in a statement that it is in talks with a consortium — led by BNP Paribas SA and Deutsche Bank AG — that includes CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行) and Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) to underwrite the sale. It did not disclose the financial terms for the planned issue. Funds raised from the bond sale would be injected into Taiwan’s offshore wind power industry, Orsted said.
AUTOMOTIVE
Iron Force sales rise 9.14%
Iron Force Industrial Co (劍麟), which supplies seat belts, airbag inflators and safety parts, on Tuesday reported that cumulative revenue in the first eight months of the year increased 9.14 percent to NT$3.06 billion due to rising shipments of automotive safety system parts, led by precision tubes for pretensioner seat belts. The company said in a news release that order visibility and factory utilization rates have improved this year, as major vehicle brands increase adoption of safety parts.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
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