■ Shares drop 0.41 percent
Shares closed down 0.41 percent yesterday, giving up early gains after a lackluster Wall Street performance overnight gave investors no clear lead, dealers said.
The TAIEX shed 32.65 points at 7,845.17, on turnover of NT$127.01 billion (US$3.84 billion).
Decliners outnumbered gainers 742 to 403, with 161 stocks unchanged.
On the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar weakened as it tracked the yen, which dropped 0.7 percent in the past five days, dealers said.
The NT dollar declined NT$0.02 to close at NT$33.076 against the US currency, Taipei Forex said.
■ BenQ to sell AUO shares
BenQ Corp (明基), the nation's largest maker of branded consumer electronics, said it plans to sell 100 million shares, or about 1.3 percent, of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) to increase its cash flow.
BenQ announced the sale in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The company expects an estimated investment gain of NT$4.5 billion (US$136 million) from the sale, to be conducted in a block trade after the market's close, spokesman David Wang (王淡如) said.
BenQ did not have a timetable for the disposal, which will cut its shareholding in AU Optronics to 8.42 percent from 9.7 percent, Wang said.
■ Chunghwa refuses to move HQ
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest telecom operator, said yesterday it did not have any plan to move the company's headquarters southwards, as requested by its union representatives.
The telephone company's comment came after its labor union decided to push for the relocation of the headquarters, aiming to boost the development of the telecom industry in the remote areas.
Chunghwa said it would force the company to incur significant increase in costs and extra spending on the move.
The labor union's assertion contrasts with the views of other state-run company employees, who strongly oppose the government's intention to move their offices to the south.
■ Bad loan ratio continues climb
The average bad loan ratio of 41 local banks continued to rise for two consecutive months to 2.38 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage points from a month earlier, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
Coverage ratio used to gauge the sufficiency of bad debts reserves dropped to 53.30 percent from 55.21 percent over the same period, the data showed.
Bad debts ratio of cash card lending climbed 1.58 percentage points month-on-month to 7.74 percent last month, due to a decrease of NT$4.2 billion in total lending balance and a rise of NT$2.4 billion in defaulted loans balance.
That of credit card lending nudged up to 2.36 percent, up 0.09 percentage points in January, data showed.
■ Unilever to shut plant
Consumer product giant Unilever said yesterday it will shut one of its two plants in Taiwan and move the production lines to other facilities in the region.
The closure of the plant in Taoyuan will be completed by the end of this year, a Unilever Taiwan spokesman said, adding the move will affect 130 local jobs.
Production would be shifted to Unilever's units in China and southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, the spokesman said.
The Hsinchu plant, with 100 employees, would continue operations, he added.
Unilever entered the Taiwan market in 1984, manufacturing a wide range of goods, including detergent, skin care and food products.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
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