Taiwan electronics stocks rose yesterday, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
Banks and insurers, though, slumped for a fourth day on news that they could suffer more than NT$28 billion in mortgage losses after the quake because of massive damage to property, sending the benchmark index lower.
The TWSE Index fell 16.66, or 0.2 percent, to 7598.79. Some 219 issues rose, 258 fell, and 53 were unchanged. The index is down 4.3 percent since the market reopened Monday following the quake.
Shares worth NT$123.7 billion were traded today, compared with the three-month average of NT$116.6 billion.
"The (government) funds have been accumulating shares in the last three days," said Tu Jing-lung, who manages NT$3.5 billion for Grand Cathay Securities Corp (國華人壽), a unit of the KMT. "[The fact] that some financial stocks didn't plunge by the daily limit today is a sign of the buying. The funds are the only ones in the market who would dare to buy banks and insurers when everybody else just want to dump them now."
Most banks and insurers fell the 3.5 percent limit on a report they may suffer more than NT$28 billion in mortgage losses because of the quake. Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) fell to NT$32.80. First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) dropped to NT$41.50. Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) sank to NT$42.50. Shin Kong Insurance Co (新光人壽), which also offers housing loans, slumped to NT$42.50.
Cathay Life Insurance Co, the biggest insurer, was unchanged at NT$82 today after slumping the maximum 3.5 percent limit in each of the past three sessions.
Computer disc makers rose after Prodisc said Wednesday it raised its full-year net profit target to NT$1.4 billion from the previous NT$11.4 billion forecast. Global demand is rising as such discs can store everything from computer data to music from the Internet. Prodisc rose the 7 percent limit to NT$187. Ritek Inc, one of Prodisc's major shareholders, jumped NT$6, or 4.4 percent, to NT$213.
High-tech shares jumped on signs of government buying.
Government officials couldn't be reached for comment. Since Tuesday, four pension and insurance funds were net buyers of NT$3 billion of Taiwan stocks. On the previous day, they made net purchases of NT$4 billion to NT$5 billion of stocks, local media reported, without citing sources.
TSMC, Taiwan's bellwether technology stock, rose NT$1, or 0.8 percent, NT$133.50. The chipmaker anticipates a loss of NT$2.8 billion in sales due to the quake, lower than the NT$7 billion expected by some analysts. Compal Electronics Inc, a laptop computer supplier of Dell Computer Corp, rose NT$3.50, or 3.1 percent, NT$100.50.
Foreign investors liked Compal the most Wednesday, buying a net 12.1 million shares. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc., the world's No.2 chips assembler, rose NT$2, or 2.3 percent, to NT$90.50. Mosel Vitelic Inc, a memory chipmaker, jumped NT$1.80, or 5.7 percent, to NT$33.60.
CMC Magnetics Corp, which supplies computer discs to Mitsubishi Corp, rose NT$5, or 4 percent, to NT$130.50. CMC yesterday raised US$130 million in convertible bonds, completing a sale delayed by the earthquake. Investors can sell back the bonds, which will pay 1 percent interest, after three years at a premium receiving 120.9355 percent of the bonds, said the company.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
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