INSURANCE
Chaoyang auction postponed
An auction for Chaoyang Life Insurance Co (朝陽人壽) might be delayed until after September, pushing back earlier plans to find a buyer for the troubled company by next month, regulators said. Chaoyang Life was placed under government receivership in January after racking up massive losses and negative net worth. The semi-official Insurance Stabilization Fund, which has been appointed the official receiver for the company Life, said it needs more time to present and discuss recommendations by asset management companies with the Financial Supervisory Commission.
FINANCE
SinoPac profit falls 25%
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday reported that net income in the first quarter fell 25 percent year-on-year to NT$2.72 billion (US$83.23 million). Earnings per share during the period were NT$0.27. The company attributed the decline to successive interest rate cuts, which pushed down its net interest margin to 1.09 percent. Bank SinoPac president and spokesperson Michael Chang (張晉源) said that a new branch would open its doors in Shanghai next week, adding that the company would continue expanding China, with plans to open one new branch each year. Chang maintained a downbeat outlook on Taiwan’s economic growth this year, saying that a marked recovery is not expected until next year. However, he does not expect the financial sector to bear the brunt of an expected capital flight, as money flows back to the US following the US Federal Reserve’s anticipated interest rate increase.
PHARMACEUTICALS
OBI Pharma shares soar
OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) shares yesterday surged 9.98 percent to NT$562 as the company’s presentation on its new breast cancer vaccine, OBI-822, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago next month draws near. The company’s share price has rallied since ASCO published an abstract by the company showing that OBI’s new treatment is effective for certain patients, despite failing the primary endpoint of a phase III clinical trial. The biotech sub-index also gained 3.24 percent to 76.81 points yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
TECHNOLOGY
Computex buyer numbers up
The number of registered buyers visiting this year’s Computex Taipei rose 3.8 percent to 15,541, organizers said yesterday. The trade show is to feature products by 1,602 companies from 30 nations, of which 23 percent are making their debut at Taiwan’s flagship technology event, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. The event is gaining traction internationally, with the number of participating nations rising by 36 percent year-on-year to reach the highest number in the past five years, TAITRA said.
STEEL
Scrap prices stabilize
Feng Hsin Iron and Steel Co (豐興) yesterday said that international scrap steel prices had stopped their streak of declines. The company said it is observing whether prices will stabilize before readjusting its own prices. Scrap steel prices have seen six downward adjustments since the beginning of this month, with prices falling from US$200 to US$190 in the US market, while prices slid from US$235 to US$210 in Japan, Feng Hsin said. Overall steel prices opened flat yesterday, it said. Feng Hsin shares were also unchanged in Taipei trading yesterday at NT$42.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
FAULTs BELOW: Asia is particularly susceptible to anything unfortunate happening to the AI industry, with tech companies hugely responsible for its market strength The sudden slump in Asia’s technology shares last week has jolted investors, serving as a stark reminder that the world-beating rally in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor stocks might be nearing a short-term crest. The region’s sharpest decline since April — triggered by a tech-led sell-off on Wall Street — has refocused attention on cracks beneath the surface: the rally’s narrow breadth, heavy reliance on retail traders, and growing uncertainty around the timing of US Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. Last week’s “sell-off is a reminder that Asia’s market structure is just more vulnerable,” Saxo Markets chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said in
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