EQUITIES
Tariff fears lower stocks
Local shares took a beating yesterday after the US listed US$200 billion of Chinese goods that are to be hit by new tariffs, escalating trade friction between the world’s two largest economies. As investors rushed to dump large-cap stocks, in particular in the bellwether electronics sector, the TAIEX fell below 10,700 points, but recovered some of its earlier losses on bargain-hunting by government-led funds, dealers said. The TAIEX ended the session down 80.05 points, or 0.74 percent, at 10,676.84 points, with turnover of NT$118.84 billion (US$3.9 billion).
STEELMAKERS
Dumping deflates firm’s stock
Shares of Chien Shing Stainless Steel Co (千興不銹鋼) yesterday plunged by the daily maximum of 10 percent after chairman Yeh Shuo-tang (葉碩堂) was detained over alleged dumping of industrial waste. The company confirmed that Yeh and former executive Sun Shih-kuo (孫世國) had on Tuesday been detained for allegedly engaging in the illegal dumping of tens of thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste at the company’s factories, but said that operations remain normal. The company said it would soon elect a new acting chairman.
ELECTRONICS
Supplier to spur Chinese unit
Electrical terminal supplier K.S. Terminals Inc (健和興端子) yesterday said its board approved a plan to inject US$20 million into its Chinese unit. The company has in the past few years teamed up with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為) to explore opportunities in China’s growing digital infrastructure market. Cumulative revenue in the first half of this year edged up 0.76 percent from last year to NT$1.68 billion, company data showed.
HOSPITALITY
Regent sells mooncake sets
Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店), the flagship property of Regent Hotels & Resorts (晶華麗晶酒店集團), on Tuesday launched a preorder sale for mooncake gift sets to boost food sales ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which this year falls on Sept. 24. The hotel said it aims to sell 36,000 gift sets at the same prices as last year, but through different sales channels. That would mean a 20 percent increase in volume from last year, it said.
TAXES
Overall revenue up 7.1%
Overall tax revenue increased 7.1 percent year-on-year to NT$1.334 trillion in the first half of this year, led by increases in corporate income tax, business tax and securities transaction tax revenues, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Last month alone, tax revenue dropped 2.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$478.9 billion due to a high comparison base in corporate income tax, housing tax and gift tax revenues, the ministry said.
LABOR
May wages rise 2.48%
Average regular wages in Taiwan in May increased 2.48 percent from a year earlier to NT$40,874, following an annual increase of 2.26 percent in April, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said on Tuesday. In the first five months of this year, average regular wages rose 2.55 percent from a year earlier to NT$40,720, the agency said. Meanwhile, working hours in May averaged 178.8, up 10.8 hours, or 6.43 percent, from a year earlier. In the first five months of this year, average working hours stood at 164.8, up three hours, or 1.85 percent, it added.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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