TAIEX slides 0.9 percent
The TAIEX closed down 0.9 percent yesterday after Wall Street slumped late last week amid concerns that China would further tighten money supply to fight inflation, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 75.4 points to 8,240.65, after moving between 8,226.71 and 8,301.35, on turnover of NT$86.97 billion.
Textile shares suffered the steepest decline, losing 4.7 percent. Pulp and paper stocks fell 3.8 percent, construction firms shed 3.7 percent, cement shares lost 2 percent and the plastics and chemical sector closed down 1.8 percent.
Land sales successful: ministry
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday it had sold 84 plots of idle industrial land for a total of NT$5.22 billion (US$163 million) this year.
The ministry introduced the scheme in January, aiming to sell idle industrial lots below market prices, and the results have been satisfactory so far, it said in a statement.
The 84 plots of land span 80.87 hectares, and their buyers are expected to invest NT$27.4 billion to set up factories, buildings or offices that would create 3,568 jobs, it said.
The ministry said that to date, 80 percent of the vacant lots at Changpin Industrial Park (彰濱工業區) were sold at the auctions, biddings, while the success rates for other parks were 60 percent for Douliou (斗六), 22 percent for Tainan and 21 percent for Heping (和平).
Formosa to expand in US
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s biggest diversified industrial conglomerate, plans to spend about US$800 million to build ethylene and propylene plants in the US to tap demand for the chemicals.
The proposed plants in Texas will be able to produce 450,000 tonnes of ethylene and 400,000 tonnes of propylene a year, Lee Chih-tsuen (李志村), a member of the company’s executive board, told reporters in Taipei County yesterday.
Construction may start in 2012, he said.
The group needs the plants for raw materials that will be made into products for the US and Latin American markets, he said.
Ethylene and propylene are raw materials for plastics and chemical fibers.
“We don’t have enough of them,” Lee said.
The company’s US unit already has an annual capacity of 1.55 million tonnes of ethylene, Lee said.
Asustek plans Pegatron sale
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) plans to apply to local regulators to sell global depositary receipts in affiliate Pegatron Corp (和碩), Asustek’s chief finance officer David Chang (張偉明) said by telephone yesterday.
The Taipei-based maker of personal computers plans to sell up to 12 percent of Pegatron’s outstanding shares, Chang said.
China, India back Russia
China and India’s foreign ministers support Russia joning the WTO next year, according to a joint statement issued after a meeting of the three countries’ ministers yesterday.
Global economic recovery is still “weak and unbalanced,” the ministers said in the statement posted on China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site.
The three countries will promote cooperation in energy and high-tech sectors and urge resumption of the six-party talks, according to the statement.
Bank of China to sell shares
Bank of China Ltd (中國銀行) said it would sell 7.6 billion H shares for HK$2.74 each, it said in a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan’s semiconductor exports to the US to encourage chip manufacturers to move their production facilities to the US, but experts are questioning his strategy, warning it could harm industries on both sides. “I’m very confused and surprised that the Trump administration would try and do this,” Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst and founder of TECHnalysis Research in California, said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday. “It seems to reflect the fact that they don’t understand how the semiconductor industry really works,” O’Donnell said. Economic sanctions would