G8 meeting boosts TAIEX
The TAIEX got a boost yesterday amid renewed optimism toward the debt situation in Europe, after the leaders of the G8 nations voiced support for Greece remaining in the eurozone, dealers said.
Buying in the local market focused on high-tech stocks, in particular companies in the Apple supply chain, as bargain hunters took advantage of their relatively low valuations after a recent slump, dealers added.
The TAIEX closed up 82.66 points, or 1.15 percent, at the day’s high of 7,274.89, off an early low of 7,164.90. Turnover during the session totaled NT$65.71 billion (US$2.23 billion).
At the end of the session, the construction sector scored the highest gains among the eight largest sectors of the market, finishing up 1.92 percent.
HTC shares rise on Sprint move
Shares of smartphone supplier HTC Corp (宏達電) rose 6.02 percent to NT$431.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday after US telecom operator Sprint announced the HTC EVO 4G LTE, one of the firm’s high-end models, will be available to customers from Thursday.
On its blog, Sprint said it expects “to begin shipping HTC EVO 4G LTE for arrival on or around Thursday, May 24 to customers who pre-ordered the device online from Sprint.”
On May 16, HTC said shipments of its HTC One X and EVO LTE devices had been delayed due to a customs review requested by the US International Trade Commission over a patent dispute with Apple Inc.
Stabilize economy: chamber
The government should take action to stabilize the economy rather than pushing through reform policies, in light of a decline in exports, General Chamber of Commerce chairman Lawrence Chang (張平沼) said yesterday.
Given that exports in the first four months of this year fell 4.7 percent from the same period of last year to US$96.37 billion, it is becoming more urgent for the government to deal with the slowing global economy, he said.
“The government should be very cautious about taking any steps at present, which means it should stabilize Taiwan’s economy first and postpone other reforms,” Chang said on the sidelines of a business seminar in Taipei.
“I think the most important work for the government now is to maintain the stability of the economy to avoid a further drop in the second quarter,” he said.
Kaohsiung moving on zone
The Greater Kaohsiung municipal government has set up a steering committee with industrial parks and port operators to speed up the probable establishment of a free economic zone in the city, Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得) said on Monday.
Lee said the committee would draft a proposal for the economic zone by the end of this year and submit it to the central government for funding and assistance.
Lee said the committee will refer to the examples of Incheon in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands and will suggest that the central government loosen restrictions for the smooth establishment of the zone.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.032 to close at NT$29.546 as the local currency gained strength amid rising optimism toward the European debt situation, dealers said.
The strength of other currencies in the region against the US dollar also propelled traders to dump the greenback and raise their Taiwan dollar holdings, they said.
Turnover totaled US$623 million during the trading session.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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