STEELMAKERS
CSC to boost Formosa stake
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said it is to purchase an additional 329 million worth of new common shares in a steel manufacturing venture with Vietnam-based Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業) for US$329 million. If the transaction goes ahead, China Steel will have a 25 percent share of Formosa Group (台塑集團). The board has approved the investments to take place next month to boost its share of the Vietnam venture from 5 percent to 25 percent. The investment will ensure sufficient supply of semi-finished raw materials in the long run, Kaohsiung-based China Steel said.
CHIP TESTERS
ChipMOS plan approved
Memory chip tester and packager ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技) yesterday said shareholders have approved a plan to issue about 299 million new common shares in a private placement for China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Inc (清華紫光) subscription. Tsinghua Unigroup is to hold a 25 percent stake in ChipMOS upon the completion of the transaction. Shareholders also approved a plan for the Chinese company to occupy a seat on the company’s 11-member board.
POLITICS
William Tseng eyes new post
Outgoing Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) yesterday said he is eyeing a seat on the legislature’s Economics Committee after he is sworn in as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large on Monday. Tseng said that he respects the KMT’s caucus rules, which favor seniority over professional background when allocating committee seats. He said that even without a seat on the legislature’s Finance Committee, he would still have the ability to propose amendments and oversee government officials. Former KMT legislator-at-large Tseng Chu-wei (曾巨威), a retired National Chengchi University professor of finance, had been denied a seat on the Finance Committee, Tseng said.
ELECTRONICS
Terry Gou to visit Sharp
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is expected to visit the headquarters of Japan-based Sharp Corp for last-ditch talks to acquire the financially troubled electronics firm, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The report said Gou would go to Sharp headquarters in the Kansai region by the end of this week to talk to ranking executives of the Japanese firm over a possible acquisition. Gou met with two officials from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo on Tuesday, expressing Hon Hai’s willingness to provide a ￥6,250 billion (US$52.52 billion) bailout package for Sharp, the report said.
EMPLOYMENT
Office workers eye change
Eighty-six percent of office workers want to change their jobs after the Lunar New Year holiday, the highest number in the past decade, a 1111 Job Bank survey showed. Among those who want a new job, 4 percent have landed new positions, while 81.6 percent have started looking, the survey showed. It said 13.3 percent indicated they would stay in their current positions until they find a better one. Fifty-six percent said they would stay with their current employers if their salaries were raised by about NT$12,000 per month, the survey showed.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
NEXT GENERATION: The new 3-nanometer chip has 28 percent more transistors and offers up to 80 percent faster language model performance than its predecessor MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Wednesday launched a new flagship smartphone chip, Dimensity 9400, made with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) enhanced 3-nanometer technology, aiming to bring more artificial intelligence (AI) applications to edge devices like phones. The Dimensity 9400 is the second smartphone chip using TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer technology, after Apple Inc’s A18 Pro chip for the new iPhone 16 series. The new mobile chip has 28 percent more transistors, offers up to 80 percent faster large language model performance and is up to 35 percent more power-efficient than its predecessor, Dimensity 9300, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi Corp (小米),
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