Speculation fuels AUO rally
Shares of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel supplier, rallied 2.74 percent yesterday to close at NT$33.80 amid speculation that it could receive the go-ahead from the government to begin its US$3 billion plan to build a new plant in China next month at the earliest.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that the Ministry of Economic Affairs was set to review AU Optronics’ Chinese investment proposal by the end of this month after the panel maker submitted more information on the investment plan.
However, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Chung-chiou (黃重球) told the Taipei Times yesterday that “no timetable has been set for the review, though AU Optronics has already done all the paper work.”
Chimei Innolux plans buyback
Chimei Innolux Corp’s (奇美電子) board approved a plan to buy back and cancel 732 million preferred shares, the Miaoli-based panel maker said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The proposal still needs to be approved by shareholders at a meeting on June 29.
The board also approved a plan to sell as many as 700 million new shares via a private placement or issuance of global depositary receipts. The proceeds will be used to fund expansion, buy raw materials or boost working capital, the company said.
Ta Chong share cut approved
Ta Chong Bank Ltd (大眾銀行) said on Wednesday its board had approved plans to cancel 20 percent of its shares to improve its capital structure and make up for accumulated losses.
The Taipei-based lender plans to sell as many as 3.6 billion common shares in a private placement or by issuing global depositary receipts, it said in a stock exchange filing.
The plans need shareholders’ approval at a meeting to be held on June 29, the bank said.
Only 10% have filed taxes: poll
Nearly 90 percent of taxpayers will not file income taxes until after the middle of this month, the latest survey by 1111 Job Bank showed yesterday.
The online human resources agency cited data provided by the Ministry of Finance, saying that as of Monday, only 12 percent of taxpayers, or 655,000 people, had completed filing income taxes.
“Although online tax filing services have substantially increased the convenience of filing income taxes, those polled rated convenience of such services only 49 points [out of 100],” the report said.
Job seekers swarm Taisugar
The state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖) said it received more than 2,500 applications for 58 positions that it had advertised as part of a government job creation program.
Taisugar said it plans to hire only 2.32 percent of the applicants, who will be assigned to its administrative, ethics, finance, information, land development and civil engineering departments at branches located mostly in central and southern Taiwan.
NT dollar advances 0.4%
The New Taiwan dollar pared gains in late trading on speculation the central bank intervened to check appreciation that could hurt exports.
The NT dollar appreciated 0.4 percent to close at NT$31.778 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency has climbed 0.8 percent this year as foreign investors plowed US$2.1 billion into local equities.
The monetary authority sold the local currency in the final minutes of trading for a third day, according to two traders familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
BRAVE NEW WORLD: Nvidia believes that AI would fuel a new industrial revolution and would ‘do whatever we can’ to guide US AI policy, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Tuesday said he is ready to meet US president-elect Donald Trump and offer his help to the incoming administration. “I’d be delighted to go see him and congratulate him, and do whatever we can to make this administration succeed,” Huang said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, adding that he has not been invited to visit Trump’s home base at Mar-a-Lago in Florida yet. As head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, Huang has an opportunity to help steer the administration’s artificial intelligence (AI) policy at a moment of rapid change.
RSS