FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Devaluation supported
Domestic business leaders yesterday sounded their support for the continuation of “defensive currency devaluation” to boost the nation’s lagging exports as the New Taiwan dollar plunged to NT$33.453 against the US dollar, the weakest in about six-and-a-half years. Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會) secretary-general Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生) said that the drop was appropriate and applauded the central bank’s decision, while urging regulators to further weaken the currency to NT$33.5 against the greenback. Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (台灣機械工業同業公會) chairman Alex Ko (柯拔希) also proposed that the local currency be devalued to a range between NT$34 and NT$36 against the dollar.
REAL ESTATE
DTZ forecasts downturn
Taipei properties may be at the beginning of an eight-year downturn, said Billy Yen (顏炳立), Taipei-based general manager of DTZ, a global real-estate service provider yesterday. He said that the real-estate market is expected to remain tepid this year, with luxury home prices in prime areas anticipated to fall by 10 percent, while homes in less desirable districts may fall 15 percent. Sellers may have to offer a steeper discount of up to 30 percent before prospective buyers return to the market, he said.
GARMENTS
Makalot sales rise 11.8%
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽), a garment manufacturer for global clothing brands, yesterday reported that sales throughout last year rose 11.8 percent to NT$23.36 billion, a new record high. Looking ahead, the company said that its production will be running at near-capacity in the first quarter, and 40 percent of capacity for the second quarter has been filled. In addition, the company is to benefit from additional growth momentum as major US brands, such as Gap and Old Navy, launch their respective sports apparel lines.
BANKING
Banks face TRF exposure
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday said that domestic banks are facing increasing exposure to yuan-denominated target redemption forwards (TRF) amid a sharp tumble in the strength of the Chinese currency. With contract prices of most TRFs set at a range between 6.3 yuan to 6.5 yuan against the US dollar, domestic banks selling the derivative instrument are facing NT$200 billion in total refundable deposit exposure this month, the commission said. A second TRF crisis since August last year may be on the horizon, the commission said. Banks are required to raise their refundable deposits against possible defaults of TRFs held by their clients. The yuan yesterday fell as low as 6.5 against the greenback.
HOSPITALITY
Occupancy rates fall 2.7%
In the January-to-November period of last year, Taipei’s hotel and lodging occupancy rate declined for the first time in five years, CBRE Taiwan said yesterday. The figure dropped 2.7 percent year-on-year to 74.9 percent, the local branch of the US property consultancy said. Despite the decline, the company found that lodging capacity and room prices had risen 3.3 percent to 110,000 rooms and 0.7 percent to NT$4,532 per night respectively. The company advised hotel operators to differentiate themselves by offering distinctive dining experiences to attract more consumers.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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