Stocks gained, snapping a four-day drop, after the ruling party's presidential candidate proposed introducing a new policy that would welcome Chinese investors and ease investment limits. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) paced the gains.
"The new China policy from the ruling party would be a plus for stocks of Taiwan companies already invested heavily there," said Tracy Chen (陳翠芝), who helps manage US$2.3 billion at PCA Securities Investment Trust Co.(
Mediatek Inc (聯發科技) paced declines among exporters on concern the US subprime mortgage turmoil will hurt corporate earnings and consumer demand in the world's largest economy.
The TAIEX index added 35.51, or 0.4 percent, to close at 9,308.60, snapping the 5.5 percent drop in the previous four trading days. About three stocks slipped for every two that gained yesterday. November futures rose 0.5 percent to 9,275.
Hon Hai, which makes Apple Inc's iPod in China, climbed NT$10, or 4.4 percent, to NT$235 (US$7.25). Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation's biggest food company which supplies instant noodles to China, rose NT$1, or 2.3 percent, to NT$45.15.
SUPPORT
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Mediatek Inc, the world's largest supplier of chips for DVD players, slid NT$41, or 6.9 percent, to NT$552. Nanya Technology Corp (
DEALS
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Merrill Lynch and Co may have struck deals with hedge funds in an attempt to conceal losses on subprime investments. Two weeks ago, Merrill revealed a US$7.9 billion writedown linked to mortgage investments.
It also reported that Citigroup Inc, the largest bank in the US, may have to post between US$8 billion and US$11 billion in additional writedowns on mortgage-related securities.
DETERIORATION
"Signs of deterioration in the US economy are causing grief on corporate earnings outlooks," said Sam Hsieh, who helps oversee US$2.7 billion at FuHwa Investment Trust Co (復華投信). "Investor confidence on US demand is again weakened."
The US is Taiwan's largest export market after China.
Elsewhere, China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steelmaker, rose 2.1 percent to NT$44.90. China Steel said sales last month rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$18.4 billion.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
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