INVESTMENT
Kunshan’s ranking falls
Kunshan in China’s Jiangsu Province, which had topped a local trade group’s survey for six previous years in the overall investment rankings among Taiwanese firms, fell out of the top spot in this year’s poll, according to an annual report released by the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA, 電電公會) yesterday. The TEEMA report showed that, in terms of investment attractiveness, Suzhou Industrial Park, Xiamen Island, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Suzhou City and the Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou were the top five locations, in that order. Kunshan’s ranking dropped to No. 6 this year, amid stricter environmental protection measures in the city following the blast at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co Ltd (昆山中榮金屬) last year, the report said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Adimmune sees share surge
Vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技) yesterday saw its shares surge 9.8 percent after the company began buying back its shares to ensure the interest of their shareholders. The company on Tuesday announced to buy back up to 5 million shares, or 2.1 percent of total shares in circulation, at NT$15 to NT$26 each. The buyback scheme, at total costs under NT$1.59 billion (US$48.52 million), began yesterday and would run through Oct. 25. Adimmune shares have tumbled 44.55 percent so far this year, and closed at NT$16.8 yesterday in Taipei trading. The company told investors last week that it is not concerned about growing competition from Medigen Biotechnology Corp (基亞生物科技).
COMPUTERS
Wistron eyes buy back plan
Contract notebook computer maker Wistron Corp (緯創) yesterday said its board approved a plan to buy back 80 million common shares, or 3.13 percent of outstanding shares, at between NT$12 and NT$23 per share on the open market. The company plans to spend up to NT$40.35 billion in the repurchase scheme, which starts today and runs until Oct. 26. Wistron said it will distribute those shares to employees after completing the repurchase as part of an incentive program. Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) yesterday said the valuation of Wistron is approaching attractive levels and investors can bottom fish the stock at a time when the company faces favorable foreign exchange rates and potential orders for Windows 10-powered notebook computers. “We reiterate our view that selected PC/EMS names have seen meaningful corrections and their share prices could have seen the bottom,” Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent Chen (陳豐丰) wrote in a client note.
TELECOMS
Cloud collaboration
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said it had reached a strategic alliance agreement with Microsoft Corp, regarding their future collaboration in cloud solution provider (CSP) and cloud OS network (COSN) services. A company statement said the partnership with the US software company is aimed to better serve the cloud-computing needs of government and corporate clients in Taiwan through three approaches: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS). The two companies collaboration will take effect on Sept. 1, according to the statement. Yesterday’s agreement was signed in Taipei by Chunghwa and Microsoft representatives.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS