LIFE INSURERS
Hontai plan still uncertain
Hontai Life Insurance Co’s (宏泰人壽) plan to lift its risk-based capital (RBC) adequacy remains uncertain, as major shareholder Everpro Insurance Brokers Co Ltd (永達保險經紀人) does not support Hontai Life’s fundraising plan. Hontai yesterday failed to hold a shareholders’ meeting to discuss a plan to sell land assets to raise funds. The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday said Hontai Life needs to raise its RBC ratio to the legal requirement of 200 percent by the end of this year, from the current level of between 50 and 100 percent. The commission said the insurer’s other major shareholders can cope with the recapitalization issue.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Win tips revenue surge
Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) yesterday told an investors’ conference that revenue for this quarter would see a double-digit percentage increase from last quarter’s NT$2.81 billion (US$90.14 million) after reporting better-than-expected earnings for last quarter, as handset and Wi-Fi-related clients are entering their peak season. Win provides foundry services for gallium arsenide components used in handsets. In the first quarter, Win reported net income of NT$618 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.83, with a gross margin of 37.9 percent and an operating margin of 27.6 percent.
LENS SUPPLIERS
Largan shares beat record
Shares of Largan Precision Co (大立光), a leading local smartphone camera lens module supplier, yesterday hit a record high for the company, as investors expressed confidence in the company’s leading position in the sector. Shares closed 0.34 percent higher at NT$2,945 on expectations that the firm would benefit from industrial migration of handset camera lenses to 10-megapixel and more advanced models.
CHEMICALS
Namchow reports solid Q1
Namchow Chemical Industrial Co (南僑化工) on Monday reported solid financial results for the first quarter, benefiting from continuing capacity expansion, lower raw material prices and a one-off tax benefit from its Guangzhou plant in China. The company said net income grew 38.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$289 million, or NT$1.16 per share, and revenue increased by 6 percent to NT$3.57 billion. Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) yesterday raised its earnings forecast for Namchow by 4.8 percent to NT$4.4 per share and increased its share price target to NT$83.
SOLAR ENERGY
Green Energy to sell shares
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), the nation’s biggest solar wafer maker, yesterday said it has secured shareholders’ approval to sell 150 million new shares and plans to use the proceeds to improve its financial structure, according a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company said it plans to raise funds via private placements, without elaborating. Green Energy posted a net loss of NT$2.09 billion last year, or NT$5.54 loss per share.
PC MAKERS
Inventec dividend approved
Contract PC maker Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday said its board approved the distribution of NT$1.75 per share in a cash dividend based on last year’s net profit of NT$7.09 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.98, with a payout ratio of 88.38 percent. The planned dividend suggests a yield of 8.27 percent, based on the firm’s closing share price of NT$21.15 yesterday.
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents would supplant smartphones as the center of people’s digital lives, fundamentally reshaping personal devices and driving a major computing upgrade cycle, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon said yesterday. In his keynote speech for this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei, Amon said that the rise of "agentic AI" — AI systems capable of reasoning, planning and carrying out tasks autonomously — would transform how people interact with technology across phones, PCs, vehicles and wearable devices. Describing the technology as the next major evolution in computing, Amon said that "2026 is the year of agents.” For decades, smartphones have sat
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