ELECTRONICS
Delta stocks fall on issuance
Shares of Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the nation’s top power supply unit maker, plunged 7.6 percent yesterday after it announced a plan on Monday to issue up to 170.66 million new common shares to raise funds. Based on the firm’s closing price yesterday, Delta could raise about NT$26.96 billion (US$822.3 million) from the local bourse, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said, adding that the decline of Delta shares reflected the market’s concern over potential earnings dilution. Given that the company has about NT$60 billion cash on hand, Daiwa Capital Markets Inc said Delta might plan to use the fresh funds to engage in more mergers and acquisitions. However, Yuanta Securities said investors might doubt such a move, as there are no viable targets at the moment.
LIFE INSURERS
Cathay, China Life team up
Due to the growth of cross-strait travel, Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (國泰人壽) yesterday announced an agreement with China Life Insurance Co Ltd (中國人壽) to process travel insurance claims for policyholders traveling in Taiwan and China. Taiwanese policyholders traveling in China can have their insurance claims processed at nearly 3,000 branches of China Life and Cathay Lujiazui Life Insurance Co Ltd (陸家嘴國泰人壽), the first cross-strait insurance venture, which was formed in 2004, while Chinese travelers visiting Taiwan can have their claims processed by Cathay Life Insurance, the companies said.
TIRE MAKERS
Expansion nears completion
Nankang Rubber Tire Corp (南港輪胎) yesterday said it expects to complete a capacity expansion project at its Sinfong Township (新豐) plant in Hsinchu County by the end of this year to meet market demand. The expansion is to increase the daily output of passenger car tires at the plant to 18,000 from between 12,000 and 13,000 tires, the company told an investors’ conference in Taipei. The company said it also expects to finalize a land redevelopment project at its old factory site in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) at the end of the year, which is expected to be transformed into a residential and commercial complex covering 9,453 ping (31,249m2).
SEMICONDUCTORS
MIC forecasts revenue rise
The local semiconductor industry’s revenue is expected to grow by 2.2 percent to NT$2.2 trillion next year after it expanded by a weaker-than-expected 0.4 percent to NT$2.15 trillion this year, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) forecast yesterday. In comparison, the global semiconductor industry is expected to grow total revenue by just 1 percent annually next year after rising 2.2 percent this year, the MIC said. Taiwan’s DRAM chipmakers are expected to see revenue decline by 13 percent to NT$23.25 billion this year from last year, the market researcher said.
REAL ESTATE
Taiwan Fertilizer leases plot
Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台肥), the nation’s largest fertilizer producer, yesterday signed agreements with CTBC Life Insurance Co (中信人壽) and Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽保險) to sell the surface rights for plots of land in Taipei near Nangang Software Park’s (南港經貿園區) C3 parking lot. The insurers paid NT$15 billion for a 45-year surface rights lease. They plan to turn the 12,565 ping parcel into a business complex, which is to include office buildings, a shopping center and hotels, by 2019.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
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