Stocks rose yesterday, with the key index climbing to its highest in 14 months.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) dropped on concern its 67 percent rally this year may have outpaced its profit growth. Asustek will report its first-half profit this month.
"Overseas demand has certainly accelerated, which is good for Taiwan's exporters," said Celine Chiang, who manages the US$16 million Chronicle Fund for Polaris International Securities Investment Trust Co (
"Investors are cautious about companies like Asustek Computer ahead of their first-half reports, especially when some of them have gained so much," she said.
The TAIEX added 28.06, or 0.5 percent, to 5,516.80, its highest close since June 18 last year. The turnover was NT$101.58 billion (US$2.94 billion), with 456 issues finishing higher, 222 lower and 98 unchanged.
Index futures expiring this month gained 0.9 percent to 5,539.
TSMC, the world's largest maker of computer chips on a subcontracting basis, rose NT$0.50, or 0.8 percent, to NT$61.50.
Asustek, the nation's largest maker of the boards that hold the chips that run computers, shed NT$1.50, or 1.6 percent, to NT$90.50.
Construction stocks were the best performers, surging 5.6 percent as a whole.
"Funds are still in the market, but their buying activity has turned to traditional names as the rally in techs comes to a halt," said Tu Jin-lung (杜金龍), vice president at Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券).
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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