TAIEX dips on high-tech sell-off
The stock market extended its losses yesterday as investors sold Apple Inc supply chain stocks after a local media report said the US consumer electronics giant was cutting its orders, dealers said.
Concern over the eurozone debt crisis also lingered despite a pledge by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down, lifting Wall Street overnight, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 38.93 points, or 0.51 percent, at the day’s low of 7,561.86 and off a high of 7,654.15, on turnover of NT$82.81 billion (US$2.75 billion).
Asustek revenue up 16%
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC brand, posted unconsolidated revenue of NT$31.3 billion last month, flat from the prior month, but up 16 percent from last year.
Total unconsolidated sales for the first 10 months of the year advanced 5.68 percent from last year to NT$263.24 billion, according to a company statement yesterday.
Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Unihan Corp (永碩) — Asustek’s manufacturing arms — reported combined revenues of NT$56.62 billion last month, up 5.3 percent from September and a jump of 45 percent from a year ago.
Their total sales for the first 10 months of the year rose 10.3 percent to NT$394.56 billion.
Chimei revenues fall 3.2%
Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday said revenues dropped 3.2 percent to NT$40.16 billion last month from NT$41.47 billon in September, joining local rivals such as AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) in reporting a decline in revenues.
Last month’s sales were the lowest since February’s NT$37.4 billion.
Shipments of LCD panels used in PCs and TVs shrank 11.4 percent month-on-month.
Shipments of flat panels used in tablets and mobile devices expanded 12.5 percent last month to 43.09 million units, from 38.31 million in the previous month.
ITC to probe VIA’s complaint
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday said it had voted to launch an investigation into a complaint filed by Taiwan-based chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) for patent infringement against US-based Apple Inc.
The ITC said the complaint covers three patents related to the functionality of microprocessors used in mobile phones and tablet computers.
According to the complaint, which was filed in September, VIA has asked the ITC to issue orders to ban importation and sale of certain Apple products in the US market.
The commission said it would set a target date for completing the probe within 45 days from the launch of the investigation.
FPCC schedules maintenance
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化) plans to shut refinery units in April and October next year to carry out scheduled maintenance, company spokesman Lin Keh-yen (林克彥) said.
The refiner will halt a crude distillation unit, a residual catalytic cracker and a residual desulfurization system at its Mailiao (麥寮) complex in Yunlin County for 40 days in April, Lin said.
A second residue desulfurizer will close in October for 35 days, he said.
The company also plans maintenance at its No. 1 ethylene plant, Lin said. The naphtha cracker may shut in August for 40 to 45 days, he said.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.04 to close at NT$30.066 on turnover of US$472 million.
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
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
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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