PC MAKERS
Dell fined over SonicWall
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday fined Dell BV Taiwan NT$2 million (US$65,157.19) for refusing to sell Internet security software SonicWall to a Taiwanese software company two years ago. The commission said the Taiwanese firm was appointed by Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) southern branch to purchase SonicWall, but Dell allegedly requested its local distributors to not sell the software to the firm, and in doing so violated Article 19 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
STOCK MARKETS
TWSE approves TOPIX funds
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE, 臺灣證券交易所) on Tuesday approved Fubon Securities Investment Trust Co’s (富邦投信) issue of three exchange-traded funds (ETF) tracking the TOPIX, the benchmark index in Tokyo. The three ETFs to be raised by Fubon are to be denominated in New Taiwan dollars, the TWSE said, adding that initial cooperation between the stock exchange in Taiwan and Japan could start in the second half of this year.
HEALTHCARE
Dr Wu to debut on prep board
Dr Wu Skincare Co (達爾膚生技), 22.6 percent held by French luxury brand Louis Vuitton Malletier, is to debut its shares today on the local emerging board, which is a preparatory board for the nation’s two main bourses. The leading clinical skincare brand reported earnings per share of NT$8.68 last year. The company operates more than 1,200 stores in Asia and North America, with a 30 percent market share in Taiwan, CEO Wu Yi-jui (吳奕叡) said.
PANEL MAKERS
Radiant income drops 49.6%
Radiant Opto-Electronics Corp (瑞儀光電), a supplier of LCD backlight modules for Apple’s iPad, yesterday said net income fell by 49.6 percent year-on-year and 71.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$395 million for the first quarter of the year, or NT$0.85 per share. The firm attributed the weaker-than-expected earnings to declining sales and sliding margins last quarter. Sales fell to NT$9.44 billion and gross margin dropped to 10.2 percent last quarter, the firm said. The firm’s board yesterday approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$5.5 per share after the company posted earnings per share of NT$8.01 last year.
TELECOMS
Far EasTone beats forecast
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-biggest telecom, on Tuesday reported earnings per share of NT$0.92 for the quarter ending last month, beating the firm’s forecast, while its average revenue per user increased 3 percent year-on-year, the strongest among local peers. However, it faced margin pressure in the first quarter, with earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization margins falling by 2.5 percent year-on-year, compared with Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) 0.3 percent growth and Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大哥大) 2.3 percent decrease.
ELECTRONICS
LCD TV shipments down 24%
Global shipments of LCD TVs shrank by 24 percent from the previous quarter to 51.44 million units last quarter, according to WitsView, an LCD research arm of TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). The falling shipments for last quarter were caused by a mixed bag of negative factors, WitsView said, citing weak consumer purchases in Europe and emerging markets because of volatile foreign exchange rates there, as well as saturated demand in China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to continue supporting local shares, as uncertainties in international politics and the economy could affect Taiwanese industries’ global deployment and corporate profits, as well as affect stock movement and investor confidence, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday. The NT$500 billion (US$17.1 billion) fund would remain active in the stock market as the US’ tariff measures have not yet been fully finalized, which would drive international capital flows and global supply chain restructuring, the ministry said after the a meeting of the fund’s steering committee. Along with ongoing geopolitical risks and an unfavorable
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