■ Shares, NT Dollar fall
Shares closed 1.66 percent higher in active trade yesterday, in line with the rebound in regional markets after Wall Street steadied to finish with moderate gains, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 125.69 points at 7,695.69, on turnover of NT$126.26 billion (US$3.83 billion).
Risers led decliners 982 to 169, with 157 stocks unchanged.
On the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar fell to a one-month low against its US counterpart, as a rebound in global stock markets raised speculation traders will borrow it to invest in higher-yielding assets elsewhere.
The NT dollar declined NT$0.033 to close at NT$33.029 against the US dollar on the Taipei Forex Inc, on turnover of US$972 million.
■ Discounts flights announced
Airlines operating domestic flights announced yesterday to offer discounts on weekends to lure passengers from the high-speed rail back to the sky.
Starting this weekend until the end of next month, tickets of Far Eastern Air Transport Corp's (遠東航空) Taipei-Kaohsiung and Taipei-Tainan routes are priced at NT$1,510 and NT$1,350, down from NT$2,120 and NT$1,910, respectively.
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) matched the price drop for Taipei-Tainan flights, and further cut its Taipei-Kaohsiung tickets to NT$1,490.
Uni Airways Corp (立榮航空) priced its Taipei-Kaohsiung flights at NT$1,510, and Taipei-Chiayi flights at NT$1,080, down from NT$1,900. Tickets for the Chiayi route on weekdays would be cut to NT$1,425.
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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