SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC revenue falls 17.2%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said revenue fell 17.2 percent month-on-month, but rose 23.6 percent year-on-year to NT$67.04 billion (US$2.04 billion). Cumulative revenue for the first eight months of the year totaled NT$575.47 billion, up 23.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said. In July, TSMC forecast its revenue for this quarter would grow by between 0.76 percent and 2.22 percent from last quarter to between NT$207 billion and NT$210 billion.
MICROCHIPS
ASE bid rejection urged
Chip tester and packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) yesterday again urged shareholders to reject the share purchase bid by bigger rival Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), saying the ASE offer was purely opportunistic and undervalued the company. On Aug. 24, ASE launched an unsolicited NT$35 billion bid to buy a 25 percent stake in SPIL, with SPIL responding days later by engaging in a share swap with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
ENTERTAINMENT
XPEC sets revenue record
Game developer XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技) yesterday said revenue hit the highest level in the company’s history last month, which boosted its shares to rise 2.5 percent in Taipei trading. The company’s consolidated sales reached NT$246 million last month, up 217.5 percent from a year earlier and 6.09 percent from the previous month, mainly because of contributions from its art production business and synergies from its recent merger and acquisition activities, XPEC said.
FOOTWEAR
Pou Chen’s sales up 10.42%
Footwear supplier Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業) yesterday said sales last month increased 10.42 percent from a year ago, but were flat from July. With consolidated revenue of NT$21.66 billion last month, the company’s total revenue in the first eight months this year rose 10.62 percent year-on-year to NT$176.16 billion, thanks to an influx of orders amid an international outsourcing trend, according to Pou Chen, which supplies footwear products to global vendors.
CONVENIENCE STOREs
President sees sales growth
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, on Wednesday reported its sales grew 2.19 percent monthly and 2.79 percent annually to NT$18.12 billion, with aggregate sales in the first eight months of the year rising 1.35 percent year-on-year to NT$135.49 billion. Meanwhile, Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator, said revenues declined 2.33 percent monthly, but rose 2.36 percent annually to NT$5.18 billion last month. Aggregate sales in the January-to-August period rose 2.63 percent to NT$38.54 billion, it said.
FINANCE
Cathay reports income slide
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) on Wednesday said net income last month slid 81.83 percent to NT1.67 billion from July, with aggregate income in the first eight months of this year growing 24.68 percent year-on-year to NT$52.09 billion, or NT$4.11 per share. The company’s life insurance unit, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), reported some capital losses while still delivering a well-contained hedging cost last month, including a NT$1.6 billion provision for foreign exchange reserve in the month, the company said.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
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