■ Share prices close higher
Share prices closed 0.51 percent higher yesterday as bargain-hunting offset early weakness stemming from Wall Street's falls overnight amid fears about a sharp spike in US inflation, dealers said. Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel-makers made gains on hopes of a product price recovery next month, with bargain-hunting in electronics stocks extending to financial and some old-economy companies, they added. The TAIEX closed up 28.98 points at 5,721.99, on turnover of NT$63.64 billion (US$2.02 billion). Gainers led decliners 526 to 320, with 161 stocks unchanged.
■ Taiwan, Guatemala in FTA talks
Taiwan and Guatemala are scheduled to hold a second round of negotiations on signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Guatemala from next Monday to Friday, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday. A delegation of 16 officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Council of Agriculture and others will be led by vice minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆). The focus of the talks will include market access, the service sector, investment and regulation. Issues where a consensus has not been reached, such as rules of origin, unfair trade practice and dispute settlement, will be also discussed during the second round of negotiations. As the talks have gone well and are ahead of schedule, unsettled issues are likely to be solved during negotiations.
■ Intel to increase spending
Intel Corp's increase in its investment budget for semiconductors will help it close the gap with the industry's top spender, Samsung Electronics Co, this year, researcher IC Insights said. Intel, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, will increase chip spending by 46 percent to US$5.6 billion this year from US$3.8 billion last year, while Samsung will boost chip spending 20 percent to US$5.7 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (台積電) 14 percent rise in spending will help it overtake United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) as the industry's third-largest spender this year, IC Insights said. UMC's 40 percent drop in investments will lower its ranking to No. 5 this year. Hynix Semiconductor Inc, meanwhile will rise to No. 4 from ninth last year, IC Insights said.
■ Officials to draft triclosan bill
A draft bill on a national standard of products containing triclosan will be unveiled in August and put into practice next February, the Consumers Protection Committee announced yesterday. The announcement came after research in the US showed that the antibacterial chemical triclosan, widely used in toothpastes, deodorants, liquid hand soap and detergents, could increase the risk of cancer when combined with chlorine found in tap water. The committee said it has invited the Department of Health (DOH), and the Bureau of Standards, Meteorology and Inspection under the Ministry of the Economic Affairs (MOEA) to meet and come to a consensus. The DOH will provide professional views on a safe level for triclosan by the end of next month. The MOEA will then work out a draft bill on a national standard for products containing triclosan by the end of July.
■ NT falls against US dollar
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, losing NT$0.028 to close at NT$31.541 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$900 million, down from US$954 million the previous day.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
CHIP HANG-UP: Surging memorychip prices would deal a blow to smartphone sales this year, potentially hindering one of MediaTek’s biggest sources of revenue MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip designer, yesterday said its new artificial intelligence (AI) chips used in data centers are to account for 20 percent of its total revenue next year, as cloud service providers race to deploy AI infrastructure to meet voracious demand. MediaTek is believed to be developing tensor processing units for Google, which are used in AI applications. While it did not confirm such reports, MediaTek said its new application-specific IC (ASIC) business would be a new growth engine for the company. It again hiked its forecast for the addressable ASIC market to US$70 billion by 2028, compared
SIGNS OF STABILITY: With US tariff risks to GDP subsiding, reliable economic conditions are expected to reinforce the bank operating environment, Fitch said Fitch Ratings has upgraded the outlook for Taiwan’s banking sector to “neutral” from “deteriorating,” citing a tariff agreement with the US that has reduced uncertainty in Taiwan’s macroeconomic environment and stabilized financial performance. The US on Jan. 15 agreed to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20 percent to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing most-favored-nation rates, placing Taiwan on equal footing with major competitors such as Japan, South Korea and the EU. The deal also grants Taiwan-made semiconductors and related products most-favorable-nation treatment under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. Under the agreement, Taiwanese semiconductor, electronics manufacturing service, artificial
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