MANUFACTURING
Sentiment improves: TIER
The manufacturing sector showed an improved business sentiment last month, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) yesterday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector rose 2.23 points to 99.50 from April, a new 20-month high, the institute said in its monthly report. The results echoed the latest industrial production data released on Thursday, which showed the production index for last month stopped a 12-month losing streak, TIER said. Meanwhile, the composite index for the service sector rose 2.25 points from a month earlier to 88.95, largely because the local equity market staged a rebound during the month, the institute said.
MACROECONOMICS
M1B, M2 growth rates rise
The monthly growth rates of monetary aggregates M1B and M2 last month grew 0.41 percent and 0.05 percent respectively, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The annual growth rate of M1B, a narrow measure of the amount of money in circulation, last month rose 6.3 percent from a year earlier. However, the annual growth rate of the broader M2 monetary measurement — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — decreased to 4.14 percent, mainly because of slower growth in foreign currency deposits and net foreign capital outflows, the central bank said. For the first five months of this year, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 6.36 percent and 4.88 percent respectively, it said.
ENERGY
Taipower posts pre-tax profit
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it reported a pre-tax profit of NT$62.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) last year, but the company’s accumulated losses still reached NT$135.5 billion as of the end of last year. Taipower swung into profit in 2014, with a net income of NT$14 billion, ending eight consecutive years of losses. At the company’s annual general meeting, chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said the company would this year continue to face challenges including fluctuating fuel costs, development of renewable energy and a shortage of skilled workers.
AVIATION
Passengers to rise: EVA Air
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday said at its annual general meeting that its total number of passengers is expected to increase by 10 percent from last year’s 10.06 million to 11.08 million, while its air cargo volume might drop 3.5 percent year-on-year to 600,000 tonnes. Shareholders yesterday approved the distribution of a NT$0.8 dividend, which includes a cash dividend of NT$0.5 and a stock dividend of 3 percent, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$1.69.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On to pay dividends
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said it has gained shareholders’ approval to distribute a dividend of NT$2.24 per share — including a cash dividend of NT$2.19 per share and a stock dividend of 0.5 percent per share. The dividend implies a payout ratio of 72 percent and suggests a yield of 4.9 percent based on the firm’s share price of NT$43.8 at the close of Taipei trading yesterday. Meanwhile, Wu Kuo-feng (吳國風), Harvey Chang (張孝威), Edward Yang (楊耀武) and Albert Hsueh (薛明玲) were elected as independent directors on the company’s board, the optoelectronic components maker said in a statement.
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
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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,
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