FINANCES
Foreign reserves increase
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves had risen to US$412.61 billion at the end of last month, an increase of US$3.22 billion since August, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The central bank said the increase was because of the growing value of the euro and other major currencies versus the US dollar. As of the end of last month, foreign investors held US$235.4 billion in equities, bonds and local currency-based deposits, accounting for 57 percent of total foreign exchange reserves, the statement said. Taiwan is the world’s fourth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, the central bank said.
TECHNOLOGY
Chipmakers file lawsuit
Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏電子), which supplies memory chips to Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co, said on Thursday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the US against US memory chipmaker Spansion Inc and its subsidiary Spansion LLC. Micronix said Spansion and its subsidiary have illegally breached seven patents for flash memory chip manufacture and design, which are held by Macronix. Macronix’s move came after Spansion LLC filed legal action against 14 companies, including Macronix, in the US on Aug. 1 for six patent violations. The International Trade Commission in the US accepted the case on Sept. 4. The Hsinchu-based chipmaker has been granted more than 5,000 patents worldwide.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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