TAIEX down on US data
Share prices closed down 0.40 percent yesterday in thin trading after investors took their cues from a Wall Street fall overnight on disappointing US existing home sales data, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 30.53 points to 7,582.15, after fluctuating between 7,549.98 and 7,615.44, on turnover of NT$77.26 billion (US$2.41 billion).
The market opened 0.48 percent lower amid renewed worries over the pace of the global economic recovery, and pressure persisted throughout the trading session ahead of the nearest technical resistance at around the 7,600-point mark, according to the dealers.
A total of 1,729 stocks closed down and 1,166 were up, with 335 stocks remaining unchanged.
Citigroup to issue bonds
Citigroup Inc plans to raise US$330 billion via the issuance of three-year Formosa bonds, the nation’s first onshore US dollar-denominated bond by a foreign issuer from the local market, the bank said in a press statement yesterday.
The bond issue, priced with a coupon of 2.8 percent, will be listed on the GRETAI Securities Market and arranged by Citigroup Global Markets Inc, it said, adding that the proceeds would be for general corporate use.
Sales of the bond, offered and sold only in Taiwan, are expected to start next Tuesday and be settled on July 16. The bond is a maiden issue under the US bank’s shelf registration with a ceiling amount of US$1 billion in Taiwan, which has been approved by the financial regulator.
TECO Electric inks Japan deal
Taiwan-based TECO Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) inked a cooperation contract with Japan’s SIM-Drive Corp yesterday under which TECO will produce high-horsepower electric in-wheel motors using technology supplied by the electric vehicle developer.
Production will begin next year, with capacity expected to reach 100,000 units by 2013, TECO said.
TECO chairman Liu Chao-kai (劉兆凱) said in-wheel motors are designed to be incorporated into the hub of a wheel, driving it directly.
He said in-wheel motors are likely to become a trend because of their flexibility and energy-saving features.
He said the market for in-wheel motors for electric vehicles is estimated to be around NT$7 billion (US$218.5 million) per year, and that his company and SIM-Drive are targeting electric vehicle manufacturers in China and Japan as potential buyers.
South Korea to limit loans
South Korea will bar banks from giving foreign-currency loans to local companies for domestic use starting on July 1 as part of measures announced this month to reduce volatility in capital flows and the won.
“The restriction to limit foreign-currency loans to overseas use will help reduce external debt,” the Bank of Korea said in an e-mailed statement in Seoul yesterday. “It will also protect local firms from the risk of big swings in foreign- exchange rates.”
South Korea joins nations from Taiwan to Russia in tightening rules on capital flows to limit swings in their currencies.
The G20 meeting in Busan, South Korea, earlier this month urged regulators to develop capital rules to enable financial firms to withstand future downturns in the global financial system.
NT dollar down NT$0.095
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.095 to close at the day’s low of NT$32.189. Turnover totaled US$818 million during the trading session.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
IMAGE SENSORS: The Japanese company would be the controlling shareholder of the venture, with development and production lines to be set up in Kumamoto Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp to create a joint venture to develop and produce next-generation images sensors. The partnership seeks to explore and address emerging opportunities in physical artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as automotive and robotics, paving the way for innovations and expanded technological advancements, TSMC said in a statement. Sony would be the majority and controlling shareholder of the joint venture, the statement said, adding that the company would set up development and production lines in its newly constructed fab in Kumamoto Prefecture’s
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