TAIEX ends slightly higher
The TAIEX ended slightly higher yesterday amid cautious sentiment as the US Federal Reserve was expected to wrap up a two-day meeting later in the day, dealers said.
Large cap stocks, in particular companies in the Apple supply chain, fell into consolidation mode and failed to lead the broader market to any significant gains despite the release of Apple’s latest iPhone model overnight, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 8.35 points, or 0.11 percent, at 7,578.80, after moving between 7,557.28 and 7,594.76, on turnover of NT$82.02 billion (US$2.77 billion).
Investors seek wage reduction
A group of local businesspeople yesterday called for the dispensation of the minimal wage for foreign workers to attract local businessmen operating in China to return.
Taiwan’s economic slump resulted from the exodus of its manufacturing industry, which was one of the leading creators of Taiwan’s economic miracle, said William Kao (高為邦), who heads the group of investors that he says are suffering at the hands of China.
Noting that labor costs in China are rising rapidly, Kao said many Taiwan businesspeople working there are more than willing to return to Taiwan, if only they could find cheap workers on the island.
He urged the government to relinquish the minimal wage requirement for foreign workers and give employers a free hand in deciding the wages of their workers to encourage them to return to Taiwan.
PC production to fall
The volume of PC production in the second half of the year is expected to fall by 2 percent from the same period last year, International Data Corp (IDC) said on Wednesday.
The upcoming release of more Ultrabook models is expected to boost sales and help increase the production volume of laptops in the second half by 44.1 percent from the first half of the year, IDC said in a statement.
For desktops, the production volume in the second half is expected to increase by 7.8 percent from the first half, the IDC said.
Overall PC production volume in the second quarter in Taiwan reached 720,117 units, down 8.7 percent from the previous quarter and down 11 percent from the same period last year, IDC said.
Professor appointed to CEPD
Chen Hsiao-hung (陳小紅), a sociology professor at National Chengchi University, has been appointed vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) beginning on Monday, according to a Presidential Office statement issued yesterday.
Chen is to fill the place left by Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英), who unexpectedly resigned from the vice chairman position in May.
Chen, who received her doctoral degree from Pittsburgh University, has expertise in the sociology of development and social welfare policy.
A council official said Chen’s expertise may help the government develop policies for dealing with the aging population problem.
NT dollar drops by NT$0.03
The New Taiwan dollar fell NT$0.03 to close at NT$29.699 against the greenback as further efforts from the local central bank to boost the value of the US currency reversed the unit’s early losses by the end of the session, dealers said.
The intervention ended a five-session losing streak for the US dollar against the NT dollar, they said. Turnover totaled US$642 million during the trading session.
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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).
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
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