BROKERAGES
Profits up on higher turnover
Statistics compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed that local securities firms posted NT$550 million (US$17.23 million) in net profit last month, as the average daily turnover on the main board grew 14.37 percent from a month earlier to NT$75.6 billion, leading to a 17 percent increase in fee income. However, in the first 11 months of this year, securities firms posted net profit of NT$19.4 billion, compared with NT$21.2 billion the previous year, as the average daily turnover shrank by 15 percent year-on-year, the exchange said.
BANKING
Yuan deposits bounce back
Yuan deposits increased 0.16 percent month-on-month to 309.023 billion yuan (US$44.56 billion) last month, reversing a decline the previous month, driven mainly by local companies’ fund management, the central bank said yesterday. Yuan deposits at banks’ domestic banking units grew 0.62 percent to 273.65 billion yuan from the previous month, while yuan deposits at their overseas banking units declined 3.26 percent to 35.38 billion yuan, the central bank said.
CHIP TESTERS
SPIL cuts capital expenditure
Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (SPIL, 矽品精密) yesterday said its board approved capital expenditure of NT$15.5 billion for next year, compared with a budget of NT$17.9 billion this year. Next year’s expenditure would be used to boost capacity and in research and development, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
BANKING
Manila branch to open today
State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), is to open a branch in Manila today, when it is scheduled to obtain an operating license from the Philippine regulator, the local lender said in a statement yesterday. The branch would help extend the company’s presence in ASEAN markets in line with the government’s “new southbound policy” intended to cut the nation’s economic dependence on China. The Manila branch is mainly to focus on lending, savings, trade financing, remittances and foreign exchange, it said.
ELECTRONICS
HTC’s Vive to be No. 2 seller
HTC Corp’s (宏達電) Vive virtual-reality headset is expected to rank as the No. 2 bestseller worldwide in its category this year, advisory firm Canalys said on Wednesday. Canalys forecast HTC would ship 500,000 units this year, second only to Sony Corp’s PlayStation VR with an estimated 800,000 units. HTC’s US$100 discount on the Vive on Black Friday and Cyber Monday during the US Thanksgiving season was one of the factors that helped boost its sales in the US market, Canalys said. Another factor was HTC’s big marketing push in China, it said.
INTERNET
Meitu Inc IPO disappoints
Chinese beauty app Meitu Inc (美圖) clung to its offer price on its first day of trading, a less-than-stellar debut for Hong Kong’s largest technology initial public offering (IPO) in almost a decade. Meitu’s shares closed at HK$8.50, unchanged from the offer price set at the bottom of a marketed range. The mobile app developer and phone maker is valued at HK$35.9 billion (US$4.6 billion). Meitu expects its Internet services, which include ads and virtual gifts, to break even by the end of next year, according to its prospectus.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in