FINANCE
NT$1.3 billion repatriated
Twenty-six companies and 15 individuals have applied to repatriate more than NT$15.88 billion (US$519.43 million) since a repatriation bill took effect on Aug. 15, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. About NT$8 billion has been approved and NT$1.3 billion has so far been repatriated, the ministry said. One company ran into difficulties remitting funds from China and failed to deposit the money in a special account at a local bank within one month as stipulated, so it would have to apply again once the funds are available, the ministry said. The bill provides for a preferential tax rate of 4 percent in the first year and 5 percent in the second year if the pledged investment materializes within a certain time frame.
SOLAR ENERGY
Final trading day set
Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) yesterday said that the last trading day for its shares would be Nov. 22 as the Solar wafer maker works on a capital reduction program to offset accumulated losses. Trading of the new replacement shares is set to begin on Dec. 2, the company said in a regulatory filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Gigastorage plans to reduce its capital by NT$1.33 billion, or 39.27 percent, to NT$2.06 billion, which would lift its net value from NT$6.8 billion to NT$11.19 billion, the filing said. The company reported consolidated revenue of NT$6.37 billion in the first nine months of this year, down 15.8 percent from the same period last year. It has reported combined losses of NT$4.07 billion over the past two years.
EQUITIES
FII net purchases continue
Foreign institutional investors (FII) yesterday bought a net NT$6.94 billion of shares on the main bourse, the 11th consecutive session of net purchases of shares, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. That helped the TAIEX close 18.9 points, or 0.17 percent, higher at 11,315.02 on turnover of NT$112.621 billion, the exchange said. Since the beginning of this month, foreign investors have purchased a net NT$104.38 billion of local shares, exchange data showed. Dealers said that the TAIEX staged a mild rebound and closed above 11,300 points as the prospects of a first-phase trade deal between the US and China being signed next month buoyed investors.
ENERGY
Sinwu facility unveiled
Papermaking conglomerate YFY Inc (永豐餘控股) has unveiled the nation’s largest biogas production system in northern Taiwan, which is expected to supply power to about 10,000 households when it becomes fully operational next year. The plant in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋) consists of three biogas-powered generators that can produce 28,000m3 of biogas and provide 3,960 kilowatts of power per day, the company has said. Two of the three generators are operational, with the third scheduled for completion in the third quarter of next year, the firm said.
TRADE
Vietnam imposes new duties
Vietnam yesterday slapped five-year tariffs on Chinese and South Korean color-coated steel products, with anti-dumping duties of 2.53 percent to 34.27 percent for Chinese products, and 4.71 percent to 19.25 percent for South Korean goods, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said. The move follows a five-year extension of anti-dumping duties on some cold-rolled stainless steel products from Taiwan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia, the ministry said last week.
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],”