E-PAYMENTS
PChome obtains license
PChome InterPay (國際連), the wholly owned subsidiary of PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) subsidiary PChomePay (支付連), yesterday announced that it has obtained a business license for specialized electronic payment institutions issued by the Financial Supervisory Committee. PChome InterPay said it expects to offer its electronic payment service to tens of millions of customers within subsidiaries of PChome after it officially launches its service in the nation. PChome InterPay chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) said developing feasible and useful online payment solutions would encourage more businesses to promote e-commerce.
COMPUTERS
Clevo net income falls
PC maker Clevo Group (藍天) yesterday reported a net income of NT$1.02 billion (US$31.17 million) for last year, plunging 56.22 percent from NT$2.33 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share were NT$1.57 last year, compared with the previous year’s NT$3.55 per share. The company’s board approved a proposal to distribute cash dividends of NT$1.1 per share based on last year’s earnings, which translates to a payout ratio of 70.06 percent, greater than the previous year’s 69.5 percent. The planned dividend distribution represents a yield of 3.71 percent based on Clevo’s closing price of NT$29.6 in Taipei trading yesterday.
FOOD
Uni-President to pay out
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) yesterday said the company’s board approved a proposal to distribute NT$11.36 billion, or cash dividends of NT$2 per share, based on the company’s earnings last year. The company has not reported its earnings results for last year’s fourth quarter. Its net income in the first three quarters of last year totaled NT$12.58 billion, up by 36.89 percent from NT$9.19 billion made over the same period a year earlier, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company’s planned dividend distribution suggests a yield of 3.46 percent based on the company’s closing price of NT$57.7 in Taipei trading yesterday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE buys more SPIL shares
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it has bought an additional 30.46 million shares of rival Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) from the open market for about NT$1.62 billion, bringing ASE’s holding of SPIL up to 31.42 percent, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The purchase is the second time ASE has bought SPIL shares from the open market after its tender offer to fully acquire SPIL failed to win approval from local competition watchdog the Fair Trade Commission before a takeover bid expired on March 17. ASE said it bought the SPIL shares at NT$53.15 per share, which is lower than the NT$55 per share the company had proposed to SPIL shareholders.
TELECOMS
Asia Pacific Telecom fined
Local telecoms operator Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) yesterday said it has been fined a total of NT$2.1 million by the National Communications Commission due to illegal use of Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大哥大) network. The commission said Asia Pacific Telecom transmitted data on Taiwan Mobile’s network without getting its permission in advance.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
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