China Steel Corp (
A plan by China Steel's biggest shareholder, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, to sell its 40 percent stake in the company has damped the stock's gains, Kuo said in a telephone interview.
Buying a quarter of that stake, worth about NT$18 billion (US$519 million), would reduce the concerns investors have about the sale.
``We have always wanted to take this route, and we are discussing with the government how to do this because of some existing restrictions'' on how the government sells shares, Kuo said. ``For the rest of the ministry's shares, there are many ways of selling them, including finding a strategic investor.''
China Steel is the fourth-worst performer of the Taiwan Stock Exchange's 24 listed steel companies, rising 50 percent compared with a 10-fold increase at affiliate Yieh Loong Co (
China Steel joins Chunghwa Telecom Co (
Taiwan's dominant phone company said Tuesday it may buy back about 10 percent of its outstanding shares and cancel the stock after the communications ministry failed four times earlier this year to sell a 5.7 percent stake in the company to domestic investors.
For China Steel, which had about NT$17 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on Sept. 30, buying the shares ``is a very good idea,'' said Chu Yen-min, an analyst at Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co (元大京華證券).
``The Ministry of Economic Affairs has been talking about selling shares for a long time,'' Chu said. ``With the stock price gains recently, people think it will sell anytime, so gains are capped."
To further reduce the effect of the government's share sale plan, the company is keen to seek partners such as Posco, Nippon Steel Corp, and other rivals in Japan and South Korea to buy a stake of probably less than 10 percent, Kuo said.
Steel stocks are up as the industry recovers from a slump in prices last year to 20-year lows that drove some US producers such as LTV Steel Co and Bethlehem Steel Corp into bankruptcy.
The price of imports to China of cold-rolled steel, used to make cars, has risen 63 percent this year to about $395 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin. China Steel typically sells hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel to local companies that process it into finished products such as pipe and building materials intended for export.
"The steel industry's positively linked to the economy,'' said Karvin Huang, a fund manager at Shinkong Investment Trust Co (
The recent recovery in demand has prompted China Steel twice this year to raise its 2002 profit forecast. China Steel is projecting net income of NT$16 billion this year after earning NT$7.5 billion in 2001.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS