Shares up in thin trade
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.23 percent in thin trade yesterday following a weaker close on Wall Street as oil prices hit a new record above US$120 a barrel, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 20.30 points, or 0.23 percent, at 8,857.37, off a low of 8,782.96 and a high of 8,862.50. Turnover was NT$135.23 billion (US$4.43 billion).
On the foreign exchange market, the NT dollar gained NT$0.008 to close at NT$30.490 against the greenback.
A total of US$966 million changed hands on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Government sells bonds
The government sold NT$30 billion (US$984 million) in 20-year bonds at a yield of 2.748 percent, higher than the rate at the last sale of comparable debt.
The yield in the previous sale on Feb. 12 was 2.605 percent. Yesterday’s auction drew bids equal to 1.87 times the debt on offer, according to a central bank statement yesterday. Comparable debt at the previous auction drew bids 1.56 times that on offer.
Chunghwa in Vietnam venture
The nation’s largest telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said it had formed a joint venture with Vietnamese telecom carrier Viettel Inc to offer Internet data services.
Chunghwa Telecom aims to grasp a business opportunity amid rapid growth in the Vietnamese economy and in the information technology industry in particular, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Chunghwa Telecom would have a 30 percent stake in the venture, Viettel-Cht Co Ltd, which would have US$30 million in capital.
Chip sector earnings decline
Among the 1,200 publicly traded companies, listed companies in the local semiconductor sector saw the biggest year-on-year decline in earnings in the first quarter, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
“The sector’s own business cycles and a strong local currency was the cause of its first-quarter losses,” the FSC press statement said, without giving an exact figure.
Citing first-quarter financial reports filed by listed companies, the FSC said that these companies suffered a combined before-tax loss of NT$42.7 billion in the first quarter, or a 113.76 percent drop from one year earlier.
As of March, the net worth of five listed companies dropped below half of their capitalization, and the FSC was expecting to impose penalties, the statement added.
Trio to make larger wafers
Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) struck an agreement to combine to create larger chip wafers.
The companies plan to start switching to 450mm wafers in 2012, according to a statement released on Monday.
Larger wafers make more efficient use of energy and water, allowing companies to produce chips at less cost.
Chips selling for more
Computer memory chipmakers raised prices at the highest level in 10 months, DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said, helping the industry recover from a glut that caused more than US$3 billion in losses this year.
Chipmakers increased average prices of benchmark DRAM chips by 13 percent to US$1.06 during the first half of this month, the biggest raise since last July, according to the Taipei-based DRAMeXchange, operator of Asia’s biggest spot market for the chips.
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’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
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