EQUITIES
Shih vows re-energization
The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s (TWSE) newly appointed chairman, Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), yesterday said he would work to re-energize local capital markets and further enhance the average price-to-earnings ratio of stocks listed on the main bourse and the over-the-counter exchange. Shih made the remarks during a handover ceremony in Taipei, where he received the official seal from his predecessor, Lee Sush-der (李述德). Shih, formerly a minister without portfolio, said one of his goals is to raise the stock market’s average daily turnover to between NT$100 billion and NT$120 billion (US$3.1 billion and US$3.7 billion). The TWSE also aims to expand ties with its foreign peers, he said.
EQUITIES
TWSE signs memorandum
The Taiwan Stock Exchange has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bursa Malaysia Bhd that commits the two sides to cooperating more closely. It was the second memorandum inked by the TWSE and Bursa Malaysia to strengthen their strategic partnership. The first was signed in 1999 and covered trading information exchanges.
EQUITIES
TPEX to focus on small firms
Former Securities and Futures Bureau deputy director-general Chang Li-chen (張麗真) yesterday took over as acting chairman and president of the Taipei Exchange (TPEX), which is in charge of the nation’s over-the-counter bourse and serves bond trading in Taiwan. Taking over from her predecessor, Lee Chi-hsien (李啟賢), Chang said at a handover ceremony that the TPEX would make efforts to become the cradle of small and medium-sized enterprises, the key driving force of the local bonds market and the advocate of innovative industries. The exchange would also develop platforms for creative products, Chang added.
E-COMMERCE
Momo.com to open facility
Momo.com Inc (富邦媒), an online, TV and catalogue shopping subsidiary of Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), is to open a new automated logistics center in Taoyuan in the second quarter of next year, the firm said in a statement yesterday. This is to be the company’s first wholly owned logistics center, Momo.com said, adding that it would help reduce delivery times and warehouse rental costs. The company said it plans to expand its operational scope by investing in two more logistics centers in central and southern Taiwan in the next few years. In the first five months of the year, cumulative sales totaled NT$11.44 billion, up by 9.2 percent from the same period last year, company data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Sampo reports rise in sales
Home appliance maker Sampo Corp (聲寶) yesterday said sales for last month would total about NT$1.1 billion, up from NT$1.08 billion in May, due to the summer peak season for the home appliances and consumer electronics industry. Second-quarter sales are likely to be higher than the first quarter’s NT$2.65 billion and could increase from a year ago, Sampo spokesman Peter Chiang (江全田) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. As Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has acquired Japan’s Sharp Corp and is to be fully in charge of sales and marketing of Sharp products in Taiwan, Sampo plans to end its joint venture with the Japanese firm, Sharp Corp Taiwan (夏寶), if it gains shareholders’ approval in a meeting on Tuesday next week, Chiang said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
Nvidia is to open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, where it plans to collaborate with scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Thursday. Huang made the announcement at Nvidia’s annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, where the company held a day of events focused on quantum computing. Nvidia added the program after Huang in January said that useful quantum computers are 20 years away, comments that he sought to walk back on Thursday while joined onstage by executives from quantum computing firms. “This is the first event in history