ELECTRONICS
HTC shares get boost
Shares of Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp (宏達電) were boosted yesterday by renewed hopes for its virtual-reality (VR) business after the company threw an event in Shanghai to demonstrate its efforts to cultivate VR start-ups, dealers said. HTC shares, which have lagged behind other high-tech stocks, as well as the broader market, were also pushed higher by bargain hunters, they said. HTC shares rose 4.6 percent to close at NT$72.8 with 30.06 million shares changing hands on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, where the weighted index closed down 0.02 percent at 10,512.06. “After the weighted index hit a new 27-year high to breach the 10,500-point mark yesterday, the market fell into consolidation mode today,” Hua Nan Securities Co (華南永昌證券) analyst Kevin Su (蘇俊宏) said yesterday. “So, some investors scrambled to park their funds in individual stocks that had positive leads, like HTC.”
ENTERTAINMENT
IGS-Aristocrat deal ended
International Games System Co (IGS, 鈊象電子), the nation’s largest arcade machines and online game developer, yesterday said that it and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd, at Aristocrat’s request, have terminated an agreement to codevelop slot machines, due to fast-changing industry dynamics that prompted the Australian company to alter its strategy. Aristocrat’s authorized games are to be removed from a gaming platform on the IGS Web site at the end of next month, IGS said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. IGS is to rename the gaming platform and supply IGS-developed games on the platform to maintain its service, the Taiwanese company said. The terminated collaboration with Aristocrat is expected to reduce IGS’ revenue by NT$28 million (US922,844), or operating income of NT$7 million, on a monthly basis in the second half of this year, IGS said.
SECURITIES
Taishin merger approved
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday approved the merger of Taishin Securities Co (台新證券) and Ta Chong Securities Co Ltd (大眾證券). Taishin Securities, the acquiring company, is to absorb Ta Chong Securities, which will cease to exist after the deal is completed. The deal would help Taishin Securities raise its market share from 0.59 percent to 1.29 percent, while its number of service locations would rise from 14 to 17, the commission said.
MACHINERY
Hiwin laments work policy
Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) yesterday criticized the government’s “one fixed day off, one flexible day off” policy, saying that it significantly increases enterprises’ operational costs. Citing the regulations, Chuo said that the machinery maker has to pay employees three times their daily salary if they are to work on Sundays and offer them days off for working on the fixed day off. “There’s no such policy elsewhere in the world. This [policy] is not feasible,” Chuo told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in Taichung.
RESTAURANTS
Hai Di Lao move approved
The Investment Commission yesterday approved Hai Di Lao Holdings Pte Ltd (海底撈), a popular Chinese hotpot restaurant chain operator, to invest NT$115 million in expanding its operational scope in Taiwan. The commission said Hai Di Lao plans to utilize the fund to add a new restaurant in Hsinchu, which would be the firm’s third in the nation.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
Rick Cassidy, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC, 台積電) US subsidiary, TSMC Arizona Corp, plans to retire, but the company has yet to name a successor. After Cassidy made his intention to retire known, TSMC Arizona held a special general meeting and approved a resolution that Cassidy would not continue as chairman and would not remain as a director, TSMC said in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange last night. The meeting also approved a plan to appoint TSMC Arizona president Rose Castanares as a director, the company said, adding that Cassidy has been named as an advisor
SECURITY WARNING: The company possesses key 3-nanometer technology, and Taiwan should prevent it from being transferred to China, a lawmaker said The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would conduct a “strict review” of any proposed acquisition of Taiwanese tech company Source Photonics Co (索爾思光電), following media reports that a Chinese firm was planning to buy the company in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). Local media reported that Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (東山精密), China’s largest printed circuit board manufacturer, had announced plans to acquire Source Photonics for 5.9 billion yuan (US$823.1 million). The ministry said it has not received an application from Source Photonics and has formally notified the company that any buyout would constitute a change in its ownership structure. The
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