Share prices close higher
Share prices closed 0.58 percent higher yesterday at a six-month high, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gains and strong regional markets, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 45.50 points to 7,901.50 on turnover of NT$118.42 billion (US$3.7 billion). The index is at its best level since hitting 7,902,44 on June 20.
Gainers led losers 1,413 to 1,247 with 294 stocks unchanged.
TWSE approves Integrated
Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE, 台灣證交所) yesterday approved Integrated Memory Logic Ltd’s application to trade shares on the local bourse, the stock exchange said in a statement. No date was set for its first trading day.
With a capitalization of NT$600.4 million (US$18.56 million), the Cayman Islands-registered Integrated Memory is a fab-less semiconductor maker for specific analog and mixed signal integrated circuits, primarily used in the flat panel display and mobile systems.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Campbell, California, the company is expanding its global presence in South Korea, Taiwan, China and other Asia/Pacific regions, Integrated Memory’s Web site showed.
The company reported NT$583.2 million pre-tax profit for the first three quarters of this year, or NT$6 in earnings per share. Last year, it made a profit of NT$413.8 million, or NT$5.06 per share.
Cosmos promotes Lo
The board of Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行) yesterday promoted incumbent chief executive Paul Lo (盧正昕) to chairman, replacing outgoing chairman Jeffrey Hendren, the bank said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Lo, former chief executive of SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) and chairman of Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), will also double as the bank’s acting president until a new successor is found, the exchange filing said.
The bank will be required to notify the Financial Supervisory Commission of Lo’s chairmanship, though no regulator approval is necessary.
TSMC works with Tsinghua
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest custom-chip maker, will cooperate with Beijing’s Tsinghua University on 65-nanometer and 90-nanometer semiconductor technology.
TSMC made the announcement in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Meanwhile, Advanced Microlectronic Products Inc (元隆電子) plans to sell 258 million shares through a private placement with the price tentatively set at NT$5.89 each, the Hsinchu-based semiconductor maker said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) also plans to raise as much as US$1 billion selling bonds convertible into its stock to overseas investors, the company said on Tuesday.
HSBC executive jailed
A former senior executive in HSBC’s commercial banking department was jailed for 20 months in Hong Kong yesterday for taking a US$60,000 bribe from a client.
The District Court sentenced Taiwanese Chen Ching-hsiao (陳清曉), 47, after he pleaded guilty this month to accepting a bribe, a court spokeswoman said.
As part of his sentencing, Chen was ordered to pay the bank US$60,000, the amount that he accepted to approve a US$10 million loan for a Taiwanese client two years ago, she said.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.005 to close at NT$32.360. Turnover was US$592 million.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
INFLATION WATCH: A rate hike in March would help keep inflation at 2.16 percent this year, although a weak currency and higher electricity rates are an issue, S&P said Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have reaffirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit ratings at “As3” and “AA+” respectively with a stable outlook on the back of high income and wealth levels, a strong institutional framework and robust external positions. The affirmations came as Taiwan’s economy is gaining momentum after quarters of slowdown induced by stubborn global inflation and monetary tightening. Taiwan’s strong fiscal and external buffers have improved relative to peers as evidenced by recent shocks linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing US-China technology dispute, the two ratings firms said. “Taiwan stands as the epicenter of the global semiconductor supply chain, accounting
RIDING AI WAVE: : Most of its NT$15bn capital budget would be spent on packaging technologies used in AI and HPC chips and advanced testing technology, it said Chip testing and packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技) plans to increase this year’s capital expenditure by 50 percent to expand capacity to meet growing demand for advanced memorychips used in artificial intelligence (AI) products. The company proposed to spend NT$15 billion (US$460.94 million) to expand advanced capacity and equipment, compared with a budget of NT$10 billion it planned three months ago. “We are seeing a recovery in market demand as well as new business opportunities. We will spend heavily on advanced packaging” equipment, Powertech chief executive officer Boris Hsieh (謝永達) told investors on Tuesday. “We will focus on ramping