Technology stocks lift TAIEX
The TAIEX closed up 1.37 percent yesterday, lifted by high-tech stocks that benefited from Apple Inc’s announcement of its latest tablet computer on Wednesday, dealers said.
The benchmark index closed 118.47 points higher at 8,738.37, after moving between 8,661.63 and 8,758.89, on turnover of NT$130.31 billion (US$4.4 billion).
Semiconductor and flat-panel stocks were also boosted by the government announcement on Wednesday on allowing Chinese firms to invest in these sectors.
A total of 2,960 stocks closed up, 1,427 finished down and 459 remained unchanged.
Carlyle to sell cable TV stake
The Carlyle Group is seeking to sell its stake in local cable TV network Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視) for between NT$17 billion and NT$20 billion, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported, without saying where it got the information.
The US private equity firm in 2006 acquired stakes in a collective purchase of Eastern Broadcasting, Eastern Multimedia and Eastern Home Shopping Network (東森得易購) for NT$48 billion to NT$50 billion.
ICBC to offer more loans
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) will increase loans to Taiwanese companies in China, as part of its support for the government’s target to help small and medium-sized enterprises in China, bank president Yang Kaisheng (楊凱生) said in Beijing yesterday.
Meanwhile, China will actively promote cross-strait cooperation and the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with Taiwan (ECFA), according to the text of a speech to be delivered yesterday by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in Beijing.
Chinese solar firms eye Africa
Chinese solar power producers are trying to attract more clients in Africa, where nearly two-thirds of the population lives off the electric grid.
Organizers of the African Energy Indaba in Johannesburg said yesterday that 60 of 80 stands at the conference were Chinese vendors.
By contrast, Germany, the leader in solar energy in the West, sent only representatives from its chamber of commerce.
Shenzhen Xunlei plans US IPO
Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology Ltd (深圳迅雷網路技術), a Chinese video and music file-sharing company partly owned by Google Inc, is planning to raise about US$200 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in the US this year, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The company has hired underwriters including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG for its IPO, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans aren’t public.
Xunlei had about 190 million online video users at the end of last year and also offers other Web services, including games.
Aviva plans asset sales
Aviva, Britain’s No. 2 insurer, said yesterday it could sell assets this year as part of a plan to concentrate on the countries where it was best established.
CEO Andrew Moss said the firm would focus more closely on its most profitable markets, at the expense of other territories.
“We are going to focus on and invest in 12 key markets; and on the positive side, you will see that investment in those markets,” he told reporters on a conference call.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar rose NT$0.123 to close at NT$29.542 on turnover of US$659 million yesterday.
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
China has threatened severe economic retaliation against Japan if Tokyo further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, complicating US-led efforts to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from advanced technology. Senior Chinese officials have repeatedly outlined that position in recent meetings with their Japanese counterparts, people familiar with the matter said. Toyota Motor Corp privately told officials in Tokyo that one specific fear in Japan is that Beijing could react to new semiconductor controls by cutting the country’s access to critical minerals essential for automotive production, the people said, declining to be named discussing private affairs. Toyota is among
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