TAIEX shares down slightly
Share prices closed down 0.29 percent yesterday on mild profit taking after a strong showing in the previous session, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 22.88 points to 7,612.68, after moving between 7,610.62 and 7,639.66, on turnover of NT$76.55 billion (US$2.41 billion).
The market opened down 0.06 percent and continued to move lower as investors took hints from a lackluster performance on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
A total of 1,427 stocks closed down, 1,364 rose and 441 stocks remained unchanged.
ITRI touts navigation software
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday said it had successfully developed software that will help cyclists navigate their routes with enhanced security.
ITRI has devised a software application that offers GPS, Google Maps and handset features, which cyclists can download into their mobile devices, or send to bicycle makers to incorporate into their bikes, according to a statement.
With the solution, cyclists are able to keep track of the positions of their peers during their cycling trip, therefore ensuring the team’s safety in case someone detours or gets lost.
The project was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs at the beginning of this year. ITRI said the software is now commercially mature for deployment and it is currently in talks with bicycle makers such as Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) for possible partnership.
Vice minister visits Detroit
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) is visiting Detroit as head of a 60-member electric vehicle industry delegation.
The main purpose of Hwang’s trip has been to preside over the opening of the two-day Taiwan Automotive International Forum and Exhibition 2010 in the US city, which began on Monday, according to a statement released that day by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago.
The trade show brought together 28 automakers and suppliers from Taiwan, with 49 innovative products and 59 Taiwan-developed technologies on display.
TSMC plans solar cell plant
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest maker of chips designed by other companies, plans to build a solar cell plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), spokesman Tzeng Jin-hao (曾晉皓) said by phone yesterday, confirming a report by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News earlier yesterday.
Tzeng declined to comment on investment value or when the plant would start production.
Fubon Securities chairman quits
The board of Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) is slated to approve the resignation of its chairman David Chang (張果軍) on Friday, the securities firm confirmed in an exchange filing yesterday in response to a media report.
Chang will remain as an adviser to parent Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) although his resignation at the subsidiary will take effect on the same day, following a board approval, it added.
Due to his own career plans and choice for a flexible working schedule, Chang tendered his resignation, the firm’s filing said, shrugging off speculation that he was at odds with the next chairman, Gordon Yeh (葉公亮).
NT dollar sheds NT$0.095
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.095 to close at the day’s low of NT$32.094.
Turnover totaled US$814 million during the trading session.
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
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) quarterly sales topped estimates, reinforcing investor hopes that the torrid pace of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending would extend into this year. The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported a 39 percent rise in December-quarter revenue to NT$868.5 billion (US$26.35 billion), based on calculations from monthly disclosures. That compared with an average estimate of NT$854.7 billion. The strong showing from Taiwan’s largest company bolsters expectations that big tech companies from Alphabet Inc to Microsoft Corp would continue to build and upgrade datacenters at a rapid clip to propel AI development. Growth accelerated for
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