TAIEX rises in thin trading
Share prices closed up 0.10 percent on thin trading yesterday, just below 7,600 points, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 7.74 points to 7,589.89 after moving between 7,567.96 and 7,607.63 on turnover of NT$74.96 billion (US$2.34 billion). A total of 1,505 stocks closed up and 1,340 down, with 427 unchanged.
Array Inc debuts on OTC market
Shares of the first foreign company to list on Taiwan’s over-the-counter (OTC) market closed sharply higher on its debut yesterday amid optimism over a “booming” Internet security business, dealers said.
US-based Array Inc closed up 15.6 percent at NT$55.50 (US$1.73 billion), with 2.57 million shares changing hands.
Founded in 2008, Array has established footholds in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific region. It also has two wholly owned subsidiaries in China.
Array is aiming to expand its business in emerging markets, such as Brazil and Russia, the company said in a statement.
Directors will work for free
Two independent directors of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) who have been called “government fat cats” said yesterday they would not only be willing to work for half their salaries, but would do their jobs for free.
Victor Liu (劉維琪) and George Chen (陳世圯), two of three independent directors at the corporation, have been criticized by local media for earning pay from more than one public agency at the same time.
Liu said he would be willing to work for half his normal salary and would not mind working as an unpaid volunteer at THSRC.
Chen also said he is willing to work with THSRC as a volunteer, but added that he resents being called a “fat cat.”
“’Its humiliating to characterize a board director who has work experience and expertise as a fat cat” he said.
Macronix in 3D breakthrough
Local memory chipmaker Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏) yesterday said it has developed a new 3D technology that allows it to make NAND flash memory chips for consumer electronics at a lower cost than existing technologies.
Macronix said it has successfully made a prototype using its patented BE-SONOS (barrier engineering) charge-trapping technology and 3D decoding architecture, and mass production could start as soon as 2014.
Polaris, China Galaxy team up
Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券) and China Galaxy Securities Co (中國銀河證券) signed a memorandum of understanding to team up in areas including developing index-based products and asset management, the Taipei-based Polaris said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Beijing-based Galaxy Securities has 214 outlets in China, and Polaris Securities is Taiwan’s largest online brokerage.
Nan Kang Rubber repurchases
Nan Kang Rubber Tire Co (南港輪胎) has repurchased NT$314.9 million in shares for an average price of NT$40.45 per share, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Meanwhile, Medigen Biotechnology Corp (基亞生技) plans to sell 15 million new shares at a tentative price of NT$22 apiece, according to another stock exchange statement.
NT dollar closes down
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.027 to close at a day low of NT$32.216. Turnover totaled US$536 million during the trading session.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
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