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.
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
China’s top chipmaker has warned that breakaway spending on artificial intelligence (AI) chips is bringing forward years of future demand, raising the risk that some data centers could sit idle. “Companies would love to build 10 years’ worth of data center capacity within one or two years,” Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) cochief executive officer Zhao Haijun (趙海軍) said yesterday on a call with analysts. “As for what exactly these data centers will do, that hasn’t been fully thought through.” Moody’s Ratings projects that AI-related infrastructure investment would exceed US$3 trillion over the next five years, as developers pour eye-watering sums
Bank of America Corp nearly doubled its forecast for the nation’s economic growth this year, adding to a slew of upgrades even after a rip-roaring last year propelled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI). The firm lifted its projection to 8 percent from 4.5 percent on “relentless global demand” for the hardware that Taiwanese companies make, according to a note dated yesterday by analysts including Xiaoqing Pi (皮曉青). Taiwan’s GDP expanded 8.63 percent last year, the fastest pace since 2010. The increase “reflects our sustained optimism over Taiwan’s technology driven expansion and is reinforced by several recent developments,” including a more stable currency,
COLLABORATION: Taiwan and the US could jointly find solutions to weaknesses in supply chain resilience for critical materials, focusing on mining and initial refinement Taiwan is likely to purchase rare earths from the US in the future, and is also in talks with Australia and Canada to strengthen global rare earth supply chain security, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Taiwan and the US last month concluded the sixth Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, during which both sides signed a joint statement endorsing the principles of the Pax Silica Declaration, pledging to deepen cooperation in areas including critical minerals. At the time, Kung said the two sides would establish working groups to advance cooperation in areas including artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, critical materials and
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