Stocks gained for a third day, paced by Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) after the nation's second-largest maker of notebook computers raised its pretax profit forecast for the year by 26 percent.
Chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) surged after Royal Philips Electronics NV forecast a 2002 profit after reporting a loss the previous year.
The TAIEX gained 91.85 points, or 2.2 percent, to close at 4,223.32. The index has jumped 9.7 percent this week as some investors judged the 23 percent slide in the benchmark in the past three months was excessive given the outlook for profit.
Almost 11 stocks rose for every eight that fell. The total value of trade was NT$89.7 billion, the highest since Aug. 15.
"I'm buying stocks which have fallen steeply and have the chance to rise during this rebound" such as semiconductor and computer-circuit-board companies, said Yu Wei-kuo, who helps manage NT$70 billion (US$2 billion) at Polaris Investment Trust Co (寶來投信).
Compal Electronics advanced 6.7 percent to NT$33.50. Compal increased its pretax forecast to NT$8.3 billion from NT$6.6 billion as sales of computers and mobile phones exceeded its expectations, the company said in a statement.
TSMC rose 6.9 percent to NT$43.40. The US-traded shares of the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker surged 19 percent yesterday, their biggest gain since Oct. 19, 2000.
Rival UMC, whose US-traded shares rose 16 percent yesterday, climbed 6.6 percent to NT$24.20.
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) rose NT$0.75, or 5.3 percent, to NT$14.90. Taiwan's largest maker of computer-memory chips by market value booked a NT$27 million profit from the sale of 3.3 million local and US-traded TSMC shares between Friday and yesterday.
Emerging Display Technologies (全台晶像) rose NT$1.40, or 7 percent, to NT$21.50. The liquid-crystal display maker said it received an order worth more than NT$200 million from LG Electronics Inc for 1 million mobile phone screens, confirming a report in a Chinese-language newspaper.
Princeton Technology Corp (普誠科技) rose NT$5, or 6.4 percent, to NT$83. The designer and maker of semiconductors used in liquid-crystal-display screens and handheld music players raised its pretax profit forecast for the year 40 percent to NT$539.9 million.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
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