Shares remain steady
Shares closed little changed yesterday as bargain-hunting emerged to trim early losses in the wake of Wall Street's overnight downturn, following disappointing US corporate results and growing concern over sub-prime mortgage problems, dealers said.
Although some investors opted to lock in profits accumulated in recent sessions, many remain bullish on a market they believe is still on track to breach the 10,000 points level on the benchmark index, they said.
The TAIEX fell 3.93 points to 9,740.13 on turnover of NT$256.53 billion (US$7.82 billion).
On the Taipei foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar fell against the greenback yesterday.
The NT dollar fell NT$0.034 to close at NT$32.792 on the Taipei Forex Inc on turnover of US$746.5 million.
BenQ might countersue
BenQ Corp (明基) said yesterday that it might file countersuits against insolvency administrator Martin Prager of BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co, a company statement said.
BenQ said it is considering the counteraction to protect its reputation, after the administrator of the bankrupt German subsidiary earlier filed two lawsuits against the company in Europe.
Prager had earlier filed two lawsuits against the Taiwanese company in Munich, seeking a total of 83.1 million euros (US$114.5 million) in payments.
"The lawsuits arose out of certain account payables" made by the unit to the parent company last year, and the suits were filed with a court in Munich, Germany, BenQ said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The statement said that the lawsuits filed by BenQ Mobile would not affect BenQ's operations or its financial conditions.
Innolux planning new plant
Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), the world's second-biggest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) computer monitor maker, yesterday said it planned to build a next-generation plant in the first quarter of next year to make computer and television panels.
Innolux, which also makes LCD panels, said it had not settled on the scale of the investment nor on the glass substrates it would manufacture.
Innolux said it planned to raise funds for the new plant via issuing new shares, bank loans and its own cash flow. The size of the fund was not announced. The company now operates two plants -- a 4.5-G and a 5G -- in Miaoli County.
New appointments named
The Ministry of Finance said yesterday it had appointed Tsai Ching-nain (蔡慶年), director-general of the National Treasury Agency, as president of the state-run Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行). Su Le-ming (蘇樂明), chief of the ministry's Financial Data Center, will replace Tsai, a statement said.
Meanwhile, Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday announced that Joy Huang (黃志宜), vice president of subsidiary Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), will be Taiwan Lottery Co's (台灣彩券公司) next president. Huang will fill a vacancy left by Chang Ruu-tian (張汝恬), who resigned over blunders in the operation of the Public Welfare Lottery.
Formosa Petro eyes Guatemala
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) representatives met with Guatemalan President Oscar Berger Perdomo and Guatemalan officials on Tuesday to discuss building an oil refinery in the Central American country.
According to an AFP report on Monday, the Formosa Petrochemical representatives were visiting Guatemala City to assess the feasibility of a US$7.2 billion refinery and to gain a better understanding of local laws governing major industrial ventures by foreign firms.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
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