TSMC ups profitability forecasts
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (台積電, TSMC), the world's largest manufacturer of custom-made-chips, raised its revenue and profitability forecasts for the third quarter, citing better-than-expected orders.
The Hsinchu-based company now expects revenue of NT$87 billion (US$2.63 billion) to NT$89 billion in the July-to-September period, Lora Ho (何麗梅), the chipmaker's chief finance officer, said in a statement today.
Ho said both third-quarter gross margin and operating margin will also be better than the July forecast.
SMIC says injunction denied
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯, SMIC), China's biggest chipmaker, said a US court denied a preliminary injunction against it by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) on Friday.
The ruling by the California Superior Court of Alameda County doesn't constitute or reflect the final decision in the lawsuit for alleged breaches of agreement, Shanghai-based SMIC said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Sunday.
The injunction would have required SMIC to stop making and distributing certain kinds of technology, the statement said.
Ten-year bonds up
Taiwan's 10-year government bonds advanced for a second day on speculation demand for exports will ease as economic growth slows in the US, the country's second-biggest overseas market. The currency weakened.
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) said last week a US recession will hurt the nation's economy given exports contribute about 50 percent to GDP. US employers cut 4,000 jobs from payrolls last month, the Labor Department in Washington said on Friday.
"The bullish mood looks to continue for the time being," said Kevin Tseng, a Taipei-based bond trader at Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co.
The yield on the 1 7/8 percent bond maturing March 2017 fell 8 basis points, or 0.08 percentage points, to 2.398 percent.
WiMAX shipments to grow
Taiwanese telecom equipment makers are expected to grow 7-fold in shipments of WiMAX CPE (customer premises equipment) to 651,000 units in the second half of this year from a year ago, Taipei-based market researcher Market Intelligence Center (MIC,市場情報中心) forecast yesterday.
In the second half of this year, major WiMAX operators are expected to migrate from network trials to official operations. In addition, various Taiwanese makers have struck contract-production partnerships with international telecom equipment vendors, including Motorola, Alcatel, Alvarion and SR Telecom, which is expected to help the Taiwanese WiMAX CPE industry reach mass production scales.
Shipment value this year of the Taiwanese WiMAX CPE industry is expected to rise to approximately US$159 million, up from US$22.6 million last year.
Energy use increases
Taiwan's energy demand rose by the fastest pace in six months in July because of increased demand from manufacturers such as Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑), the nation's second-biggest fuel supplier.
Energy consumption climbed 7.6 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 2.05 million barrels of oil a day, the Bureau of Energy in Taipei said in an e-mailed report. Demand rose 8.5 percent in January.
Imports of petroleum products tripled after Formosa Petrochemical brought a new plant on line. Industrial output surged 13 percent from a year earlier in July.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
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