Citigroup Global Markets Inc researchers yesterday maintained their "hold" rating on regional foundry stocks, including shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
Shares of TSMC rose 1.49 percent to close at NT$61.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, while smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
UMC's announcement earlier yesterday of a joint development program with Japan's Elpida Memory Inc for advanced DRAM production technology also provided partial support to its share price.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), China's biggest supplier of made-to-order chips, remained steady at HK$0.95 (US$0.12) in Hong Kong, compared with a 3.51 percent rise on the Hang Seng index.
"We see TI's flattish projection as not so exciting for its foundry suppliers like TSMC, UMC and SMIC ... in the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008," Andrew Lu (
On Monday, Texas Instruments, the largest maker of mobile phone chips, reported its net income rose 10.55 percent year-on-year to US$776 million in the third quarter, driven by increased demand for analog chips.
But the US company's fourth-quarter sales forecast of between US$3.4 billion and US$3.68 billion is lower than analysts' predictions, the report said.
"Consistent with TI's fourth-quarter semiconductor sales projection, we believe TSMC, UMC and SMIC will all see downward adjustments on recent orders from wireless customers," Lu said.
Meanwhile, MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), the world's top maker of chips for DVD players, is poised for further upside momentum, driven mainly by sales of chips for mobile phones, the analyst said in the report.
"MediaTek gained shares from TI by reporting 44 percent quarter-on-quarter sales growth in the third quarter," Lu said.
Shares of MediaTek surged 5.08 percent to NT$620 yesterday.
Lu said he expected MediaTek to lead fourth-quarter growth for the handset IC business.
That momentum should benefit other chip-related stocks, such as Siliconware Precision Industries Co (
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased
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