TELECOMS
Taiwan Star to end 4G offer
Taiwan Star Cellular Corp (台灣之星), a telecommunications arm of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), yesterday said it is ending its low-priced 4G flat-rate package by the end of this month. Starting next month, Taiwan Star will stop offering its unlimited 4G service package that carries a minimum monthly charge of NT$599. The number of subscribers to this package rose threefold this week from last week, the company said. Mobile users who prefer flat-rate packages can still subscribe to Taiwan Star’s 4G service packages with higher minimum monthly fees ranging from NT$799 to NT$2,599.
RETAIL
FamilyMart, I-Mei team up
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator with 2,952 stores nationwide, yesterday said it was forming a strategic alliance with I-Mei Foods Co Ltd (義美食品) to sell up to 100 I-Mei products, after the retailer started selling I-Mei soybean milk products on March 4. FamilyMart said it sold 500,000 bottles of I-Mei soybean milk products per week, raising the company’s soybean milk sales by 80 percent. The convenience store operator added that it plans to choose 200 to 300 outlets in residential areas to set up independent store shelves for I-Mei products in May.
ELECTRONICS
Everlight to build new plant
Leading LED lighting and product supplier Everlight Electronics Co (億光電子) said it would invest NT$1.3 billion (US$41.2 million) to purchase land, facilities and equipment for a factory in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼). The new factory is expected to begin a test run early next year. To meet the firm’s capacity expansion needs, Everlight’s board on Wednesday approved a five-year unsecured convertible bond issue of NT$5 billion, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. Last year, Everlight posted a net income of NT$2.2 billion, or NT$5.12 per share. The board this week proposed distributing cash dividends of NT$4 per share, implying a dividend yield of 5.17 percent based on yesterday’s closing price of NT$77.4.
FOOD
UBS upgrades Uni-President
UBS Securities Ptd Ltd yesterday upgraded its rating for Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food-and-beverage conglomerate, to “buy” from “neutral,” on expectations that a turnaround in the firm’s beverage business in China would boost its earnings growth this year and next. Uni-President Enterprises could also see continued margin expansion this year, as the company extends its product portfolio restructuring to “all” products following last year’s food safety scandals, UBS said in a research note. The brokerage raised its price target for Uni-President from NT$51 to NT$58, or 24 times its estimated earnings per share of NT$2.42. The stock closed flat at NT$51.50 yesterday.
PROPERTY
Kee Tai income up 43.2%
Kee Tai Properties Co (基泰建設) yesterday reported stellar earnings for last year and announced plans to distribute cash dividends of NT$1.25 per share. Net income rose 43.2 percent from a year ago to NT$1.3 billion, or NT$3.18 per share. With the stock closing at NT$20.45 yesterday, the proposed cash dividends imply a yield of 6.11 percent.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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