■ FTC fines 11 companies
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined 11 sand and gravel companies in the center of the country for hoarding in an attempt to manipulate prices. Hung Cheng (弘城), Shang Ting (上鼎), Ting Hsing (鼎興), Miao Pu (苗圃), Shun Yi (順益), Tseng Kuang Yi (增廣益) and five other companies located in the Chuoshui and Tachia River areas were fined a total of NT$33.08 million (US$1.05 million). Domestic sand and gravel prices have been rising since China's announcement last month that it would suspend sand and gravel exports beginning May 1.
■ MOF releases wine test info
The Ministry of Finance released its final version of testing procedures on wine imports yesterday, but European business groups warned that the wine market might be seriously affected. The ministry said testing requirements for methanol and lead in wine will be dropped and the residual content for sulphur dioxide will be relaxed from 0.25g per liter to a maximum of 0.4g per liter. Wine products which come in batches of less than 90 liters each with average CIF quotes of NT$4,000 per liter or more, would not be subject to testing, National Treasury Agency Director-General Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) said. CIF quotes refer to prices including cost, insurance and freight. The new regulations will be implemented as scheduled starting July 1.
■ Post office plans loan offer
Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) is planning to offer soft loans to Taiwanese businesspeople with operations in China, but who are planning to relocate their China operations back to this country, Chunghwa's new chairman, Lai Ching-chi (賴清祺), said yesterday. Speaking at a handover ceremony as he assumed his post, Lai said Chunghwa will offer some NT$200 billion in low-interest loans via banking institutions around the country. According to Lai, Chunghwa Post holds savings deposits totaling more than NT$3 trillion. The company is planning to use some NT$600 billion of this to invest in the domestic stock market or other medium-long-term investment programs authorized by the Council of Economic Planning and Development, Lai said.
■ Jih Sun Financial rating raised
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) yesterday placed its "twBBB" long-term counterparty credit rating and "twA-3" short-term rating on Jih Sun Financial Holding Co (日盛金控) on CreditWatch with positive implications, the rating firm said in a statement. The CreditWatch placement follows an announcement on Wednesday that Japan-based Shinsei Bank Ltd has agreed to a strategic investment in Jih Sun Financial. Shinsei will invest approximately ?40.2 billion (US$36.19 million) in Jih Sun Financial's common and preferred shares, which represents a 31.8 percent common ownership stake. The strategic alliance could have a positive impact on the profitability of both Shinsei and Jih Sun given the opportunities for Shinsei to leverage its expertise in non-performing loan disposal at Jih Sun's troubled banking subsidiary, Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行).
■ NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar weakened yesterday as the US dollar strengthened against most Asian currencies after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates saying more increase will depend importantly on economic data. The local currency declined NT$0.122 to close at NT$31.460 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$1.087 billion.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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