CHIPMAKERS
Phision’s board backs tie-up
Flash memory controller maker Phision Electronics Corp (群聯) yesterday said the board has approved buying a 9.9 percent stake in memory module and memory card manufacturer Apacer Technology Inc (宇瞻) for NT$381 million (US$12.1 million) via a private placement. The deal priced Apecer at NT$25.38 per share, representing a discount of 19 percent, compared with Apacer’s closing price of NT$31.4 yesterday in Taipei trading.
PAYMENT SERVICES
Gamania unit boosts capital
Online game publisher Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) yesterday said its Gash Plus Co Ltd (樂點卡) unit will soon file an application to expand its paid-in capital from NT$10 million to NT$500 million, in line with an Electronics Payment Processing Institutions Act (電子支付機構管理條例) amendment. A change that cleared the legislature last week provides a legal basis for such services and requires non-financial firms entering the sector to have more than NT$500 million in paid-in capital.
REAL ESTATE
Treasury eyes idle plots
The National Treasury Administration is to join forces with local governments to develop idle state-owned land plots in New Taipei City and Greater Kaohsiung that may boost rental income and job opportunities, the agency said in a statement yesterday. The administration plans to turn a 1,150 ping (3,802m2) plot in New Taipei City into an industrial park that could house from five to 10 firms and create 200 jobs, the statement said. The agency intends to lease a 1,300 ping plot in Greater Kaohsiung that could become the site for creative industry firms, the statement added. The cluster could provide 2,000 jobs. The projects are valued at NT$1.71 billion, it said, adding that the investments could foster NT$3.49 billion in revenue per year.
AVIATION
FIH Regent, ANA dining deal
FIH Regent Group (晶華麗晶酒店集團) yesterday announced a year-long in-flight dining deal with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA). Starting on Feb. 1, ANA’s business-class passengers flying from Taipei to Tokyo can choose cuisine designed by FIH Regent. FIH Regent said the deal could boost brand awareness among Japanese visitors. More than 40 percent of sales at the Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店) come from Japanese travelers, Regent Taipei general manager Morton Johnston told a news conference yesterday.
REAL ESTATE
Housing trade values plunge
The value of housing transactions fell 31 percent year-on-year in the nation’s six special municipalities in the first 11 months of last year, a real-estate researcher said on Sunday, tying the drop to government measures to calm rising property prices. Transactions excluding new houses in Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taoyuan, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung fell to NT$701.34 billion in the 11-month period last year, from NT$1.165 trillion in the previous year, Yung Ching Realty Group (永慶房屋) market researcher Huang Shu-wei (黃舒衛) said. Citing data on the government’s real-estate deal registration system, Huang estimated that transactions in the six municipalities would reach at most NT$760 billion for last year. In Taipei and New Taipei City, housing trades slumped by 34 percent to NT$422.13 billion in the first 11 months of last year from the NT$214.93 billion in the same period of the previous year — the largest drops among the six major cities, Huang said.
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
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