COSMETICS
Dr Wu shares skyrocket
Shares of Dr Wu Skincare Co Ltd (達爾膚生醫科技) yesterday rose 40.96 percent on its debut on the over-the-counter market. The shares at one point climbed to NT$280 — a 48.94 percent rise from their listing price of NT$188 — before retreating to close at NT$265 on the Taipei Exchange. The company was established in March 2003, with a special focus on its own brand of hypoallergenic skincare products. Dr Wu generates about 80 percent of its sales from the Taiwanese market. In the first five months of this year, cumulative sales grew by nearly 50 percent to NT$404 million (US$12.47 million), company data showed.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang plans new factory
Autoparts maker Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday said that it plans to build a new factory in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, during the second half of this year to expand its capacity of products, as its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and after-sales businesses continue growing in Taiwan, China and the US. The company plans to earmark about NT$10 billion in capital spending over the next three years, Tong Yang president and chief executive Crispin Wu (吳永祥) told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting. In the first five months of the year, the company posted pretax profit of NT$1.265 billion, up 132 percent from the same period last year, with earnings per share of NT$2.08, company data showed.
DISPLAY PANELS
Taiwan Display eyes growth
Taiwan Display Inc (台灣顯示器) plans to buy the remaining 20 percent interest in Star World Technology Corp (中日新), which assembles LCD modules used in handheld devices and consumer electronics, for about NT$428 million, the company said yesterday. Taiwan Display will pay NT$21.4 per share to acquire Star World’s common shares in circulation to make it a wholly owned subsidiary, Taiwan Display chairman Jeff Hsu (許庭禎) said. The company expects to close the deal on Nov. 15.
ELECTRONICS
IPhone 7 assemblers ready
Credit Suisse Group AG yesterday said three major iPhone assemblers are preparing for the launch of Apple Inc’s iPhone 7 in September, following its recent conversation with several Apple supply-chain firms. In a note issued yesterday, Credit Suisse analyst Thompson Wu (武光明) said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Wistron Corp (緯創) are to assemble the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus with an order split of 75 to 25 percent, while Hon Hai and Pegatron Corp (和碩) are to assemble the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 with an order split of 65 to 35 percent. As Wistron becomes a new entrant to the iPhone supply chain, the yield issue for Wistron will be a key concern in mass production, Wu said.
SHIPPING
Evergreen gets extension
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) has gained approval to extend its lease of the Colon Container Terminal (CCT) in Panama for another 20 years, the company said in a statement. The 20-year lease extension, approved by Panama’s Cabinet on Wednesday, comes days before the inauguration of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday next week. The Colon facility can accommodate large vessels with a capacity of 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), Evergreen Marine said, adding that its total annual capacity at the Colon port will increase from 1.5 million to 2.4 million following the addition of several new wharfs.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
A new worry has been rippling across the stock market lately: Entire businesses, not just their employees, might be thrown out of work. While most economists say fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) job apocalypse are overblown, seismic shifts have happened in the past after big tech breakthroughs. The IT revolution of the 1990s led to a surge in productivity that sped up the US economy for several years. It also rendered companies or even industries largely redundant — from travel agents and stockbrokers to classified advertising and newspapers, or video rental stores. Economists expect AI would deliver higher productivity,
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